The Pokemon World In Chaos
by JustAn0therGuy
Summary: (Renamed!) Hugo, friend of Ash Ketchum, sets off on a journey. He thinks he's collecting badges all by himself. How wrong could he be? Contains strong language, sex references, death and worst of all, terrible jokes throughout. This is what a Pokemon anime for adults would be like!
1. Chapter 1

**This is a sequel to my previous story 'I Don't Remember'**

 **If you read this without reading the previous story, there may be certain references you won't understand. In order to fully enjoy this story, I strongly recommend reading the original story first. (or at least skimming through it). Having said that, this will be nothing like the original.**

 **This is an introductory chapter. It's much shorter, at 2,000 words. The rest of the chapters should be somewhat longer.**

 **I'm experimenting with the tense of the story. If there are issues with it please let me know.**

 **If you are a young child, please close this story and do not read any further.  
**

 **Route 1, Kanto**

Today's the day. Hugo has never travelled on his own before. The region of Kanto is new to him, even though he's technically been there before. He's going to miss his friends, that's for sure. In fact, he already misses them. Ash, Brock and Dawn had been by his side since the day he lost his memory. Their journeys in Sinnoh are fondly racing through his mind as he begins the walk from Pallet town to Viridian city. He still can't believe they've all gone their separate ways. Dawn has stayed over in Sinnoh to pursue a career in modelling. Brock's going to focus on becoming a Pokémon doctor, meaning he and Ash have at last parted ways after roughly 6 years of journeying together.

As for Ash, well, up until yesterday it looked as though he'd be accompanying Hugo, re-challenging the indigo league…

"WHAT?!" Exclaimed Brock and Hugo in unison.

"It wasn't easy." Began Ash. "But I've made a decision. I'm going to Kalos. To gain a new experience and meet new friends. I'm going to leave all my Pokémon here, aside from Pikachu of course."

After a lengthy discussion, Brock and Hugo had to accept Ash's sudden decision. "Good luck man. You'll conquer Kalos while I conquer Kanto!"

"Yeah, you can do it Hugo! Just remember everything I taught ya." Ash winked cheekily.

And that was that. Now, Ash is busy packing his things for his flight while Brock's spending a few days with his cousin who lives in Pallet Town, then he's heading back to his home in Pewter city. It's still early in the morning. Not much after 8AM. Hugo had decided he'd be up bright and early for the start of his new adventure.

"This is it team. We'll conquer the leagues of Kanto and aim for victory in the league!" He's incredibly excited as he sets off along the same path as Ash did 6 years ago.

If you haven't heard of Hugo already, by the way, he stands at 6 feet and 7 inches. He doesn't care much for fashion, not like he can afford nice clothes anyway. Plain black shorts & shoes with a plain white t-shirt are what he wears pretty much every day. He has pale skin, blue eyes and fairly short black hair, even shorter on the sides. He has the tiny stubs of a beard. Apparently, he's around 21-years-old, although he finds that hard to believe due to his lack of facial hair. He had a lot of muscle, although recently he's been feeling quite out of shape and has visibly become skinnier and less muscular despite maintaining his large appetite.

His Pokémon team consists of Kabutops, Tyranitar, Rotom, Drifblim, Hippowdon and of course Shinx. Shinx was Hugo's first ever Pokémon. The only one that was with him when he lost his memory. Due to complications caused by the memory loss, it possesses an unusual moveset not possible for your average Shinx.

Suddenly, Hugo is snapped out of his trail of thought by somebody adressing him.

"Away with the fairies I see. I thought you might not notice me."

It's your average bug-catcher sort of character. Hugo smiles. He'd heard Kanto had a lot of people like this.

"Would you care for a Pokémon duel?" While the day is young and the air is cool?"

"Sure, why not?" Hugo replies.

"Your answer brings a smile to my face. Beware, I'll come at you at quite a pace."

This guy's awesome, Hugo thinks to himself, but for some reason the way he speaks reminds him of a certain trio of villains he knows very well.

"We'll choose a partner on the count of three, who will make the best choice? Let's wait and see."

Hugo seriously doubts his choice of Pokémon will have any affect on the outcome of the battle.

"One… two… three! Here's the choice from me!" The bug catcher throws out a Kakuna while Hugo chooses Drifblim. Upon seeing his pathetic choice, Hugo regrets battling this clown.

"Interesting choice from you. But now you'll see what my Kakuna can do..." "Shadow ball."

Before the bug catcher has the chance to react, Drifblim's shadow ball attack easily defeats Kakuna. The bug-type is knocked over and its eyes close.

"Wow! Such a display of skill. A single hit and you got the kill. I suppose I shouldn't whinge and whine. After all, Kakuna's level 9."

"Hey, uh, thanks for the battle. See you around." Hugo stammers, eager to be rid of this guy before he asks for a rematch.

"Johnny's the name, I thought you should know. I travel round at the speed of a tornado. I'm sure you will see me again. Next time my Pokémon might be level 10."

"I'll look forward to it." Replies Hugo, doing his best not to sound sarcastic as he speed-walks away. He walks for a few moments, ascending to the top of a small hill them beginning the descent down it.

"Interesting battle." A deep, adult man's voice calls out. "Mind if I have the honour of battling you next?"

Hugo is halfway down the steep hill. As he looks around at the beautiful yet hilly landscape of route 1 he spots a man who appears to be in his 40's. Coincidentally, this man is dressed similarly to Hugo. He's wearing a plain black shirt with plain blue trousers. His shoes are bright red and his haircut is almost exactly the same as Hugo's. Around his waist he wears a belt. Why does this man look somewhat familiar? Suddenly, something catches Hugo's eye which makes him nervous.

"How about it? A double battle? I'll even show you the Pokémon I'll be using."

The man confidently launches two pokéballs, summoning a Snorlax and a Pikachu.

Normally, Hugo might've looked at the man's Pikachu and been reminded of Ash, but he's completely focused on something he's concerned about. On the man's belt is something rarely seen in the Pokémon world. There's no mistaking it though. What Hugo's glaring at is definitely a gun. A powerful looking pistol. Why would the man carry such a weapon around? It makes no sense. Pokémon are far more powerful than guns anyway.

Hugo's mind instantly turns to the safety of his Pokémon. Would it be safer to accept this man's challenge or run away? If he battles, who should he use? What if the man got angry and started shooting his Pokémon? No way was he using Shinx. Imagine if Shinx were to take a bullet? The mere thought makes Hugo's face turn even more pale than normal and fills him with a sense of dread.

Anyone other than Shinx should be fine though. The bullet would merely bounce off his rock types and go through his ghost types. Hippowdon might be tickled by it, but it certainly wouldn't be hurt by it with its tough skin.

On impulse, Hugo makes a decision.

"Drifblim! Hippowdon! Let's do this!"

"Let's begin!" Grins the strange man. "Snorlax! Yawn!"

"Hippowdon! Dodge!" It's too late though. Snorlax scores a clean hit and Hippowdon yawns.

"Drifblim, get it from behind with acrobatics!"

"Pikachu, thunderbolt!" Drifblim attempts to attack but Pikachu catches it off-guard with its electric attack. Super-effective!

"Yawn again!" This time, it hits Drifblim while the poor ghost-type is still being electrocuted.

Drifblim and Hippowdon look very tired already. "Earthquake and shadow ball! Quick!"

The ground begins shaking due to Hippowdon's earthquake attack. This doesn't seem to bother Snorlax much but Pikachu looks distressed.

"Dodge it!" The man yells angrily, referring to the incoming shadow ball attack. "Pika-" is all Pikachu manages to say as it is unsuccessful in dodging the attack. It faints, and at the same time Drifblim and Hippowdon collapse to the ground, asleep.

"Ugh. Come on! Wake up you guys!"

"Hahahahaha… MWAHAHAHAHAHA!" The man begins bellowing with laughter. "Now! Give it to me!" From his pocket, the man pulls out a stick. It looks like one of those toy wands you'd give to children who want to pretend they're a wizard. He grabs the stick with both hands, pulling it and stretching it out so it's much longer. He then strolls over towards the sleeping Drifblim and Hippowdon.

"Wh-what're you doing?" Hugo asks, very confused and quite nervous.

"I'm taking them." The man replies in a deep, booming voice.

He holds the stick against Hippowdon's skin. The next thing that happens is a humongous shock to Hugo. Hippowdon begins to glow red. Then it transforms into red energy as it would do when being returned to its pokéball. Then the energy is sucked into the stick. In no more than a couple of seconds, Hippowdon is gone. Or so it seems.

"Now for the fun part." The man grins. He taps his stick against the ground and a horrific sight appears. Blood. Hippowdon's blood.

Hugo's mouth is wide open from shock as he's horrified by what he's just witnessed. He's just watched his Pokémon he'd worked so hard to train seemingly murdered by a total stranger. Suddenly, a thought jumps to the front of his mind. 'Drifblim'.

In a frenzied panic, Hugo reaches for Drifblim's pokéball. He clumsily drops it to the floor.

"Snorlax." Commands the man as he begins to walk calmly towards the sleeping Drifblim.

"WAKE UP!" Hugo screams as loud as he can as he gets down to his knees to grab his pokéball as quickly as possible. He grabs hold of the pokéball, aiming it towards Drifblim as he presses the button in the middle. He looks up as he does this to see Snorlax blocking the way. The red ray of energy intended to hit Drifblim simply bounces off Snorlax's large normal-type grins as it steps aside, revealing what was behind it. The man stands confidently with his strange-looking stick thingy in hand looking pleased with himself as a second pool of blood begins to form. It's too late. Drifblim and Hippowdon are dead.

"You monster." Are the only words Hugo manages to muster as he's helplessly reduced to his knees.

"You'll regret calling me that. Now hand over your other Pokémon." The man demands. "Or this pathetic thing gets what it deserves for that disgraceful battle."

He points his gun directly at his own Pikachu. "It's not even worth draining the energy of this one."

"You're insane." Hugo yells while still down on his hands and knees.

"Far from it. I'm a genius. Now roll those pokéballs over to me. You've got five seconds. Five… four..."

The next decision Hugo makes is one he'll probably regret for the rest of his days. Backed into a corner and lacking both the time and presence of mind to make a good decision, as quickly as he can, Hugo leaps to his feet and runs, runs, runs like the wind. He sprints at the speed of a Shedinja up the nearest hill desperate to get away.

"Fine. Time for some target practise." Scoffs the insane man.

Hugo glances over his shoulder as he runs and spots the man grabbing Pikachu by the tail and tossing the poor Pokémon into Snorlax's stomach. The fainted electric-type's body is launched high into the air. At that moment, Hugo reaches the top of the hill. He's so focused on what's going on behind that he fails to notice the uneven surface below his feet and manages to stumble over a rock, tumbling down the other side of the hill. As he slides down he hears a loud bang. "Boom! Headshot!" The man's voice calls, sounding very pleased with himself.

Hugo tumbles further down the hill, coming to a stop at the bottom. He's fortunate to be unharmed physically, however the thing that lands in front of him very much harms him in another way. Something rolls down the hill just after Hugo. In fact, it comes to a stop just two inches away from him as he's lying there. What he sees, starting him right in the face, is the most horrific sight he's ever seen.

The decapitated head of Pikachu.


	2. Chapter 2

**Route 1, Kanto**

Disgusting, horrifying, terrifying and traumatising. Those were just some of the words Hugo could think of to describe his recent experience. He's still in shock. Two of his beloved pokémon that he'd worked so hard to raise have been killed. He's witnessed a truly horrific murder of a totally innocent pokémon. So many thoughts are going through his mind as he paces through the hills of route 1 as quickly as he can. 'It's my fault.' 'I'm a pathetic disgrace.' 'I'm too weak.'

"Troubled, I see."

A voice beckons Hugo.

"Perhaps I could be of assistance to you."

Hugo turns 180 degrees, and an elderly man seems to have appeared out of nowhere. He's wearing a white robe all the way from his shoulders to his feet. He has a short beard and short grey hair. He looks very very old. At least 100, if not older. Hugo recalls that he had encountered this interesting individual once before, on his Sinnoh journey. He had helped him...sort of.

"You desire to grow stronger, correct?"

Hugo pauses for a long moment. He wants to choose his words carefully, being straight to the point. After what he's just experienced, he's in no mood for chatting.

"I was too weak. I need to be much stronger." He answers, emotionless.

"Come." The man beckons him to follow. They walk slowly up a nearby hill, then down again. At the bottom there is water. A lot of water. They are at the ocean. This is very strange, as Hugo was certain that route 1 wasn't next to the ocean.

"Three weeks." The man states. "Three weeks is how long you will need."

They walk right up to the shore, and there are two wooden rowing boats. The one on the left looks only big enough for one person while the one on the right is much larger. It's much much wider than a standard rowing boat, with easily enough space for ten people to sit in a row. It does look very unusual. The very old man slowly climbs into the one on the right.

"Empty." He points to the one on the left. Somehow, Hugo knows what this means. He reaches into his pockets, throwing in the little spare change he possesses. He tosses all his empty pokéballs in, until he only has four left on his belt. One by one, he grabs all four, pressing the button in the middle causing it to grow, then throwing it into the larger boat. His loyal Pokémon companions appear. Kabutops, Rotom, Tyranitar and Shinx. Tyranitar is surely way too heavy for this boat, but somehow it remains afloat even when all four pokémon are in. He then chucks all four balls in the small boat, so his only remaining possessions with him are his clothes.

"We're going somewhere." Hugo explains. All four of them nod. They can understand what he means, even with few words.

Hugo takes his seat in the boat. The old man begins using very long oars to row. He rows for several minutes. Rotom looks eager to lighten the mood and play around, but can't seem to find anything to play with given the lack of things around them.

Eventually, they arrive on a desert island. It's around 500 square metres in size. There are trees all over, with a small cave located in the centre. A short distance outside of the cave is a small pond of water.

Hugo and his pokémon get off the boat and begin looking around the island.

"Three weeks. Good luck." The old man calls. When Hugo turns around to look at him, he's gone. The boat too.

Hugo slowly wanders over toward the pond in the centre of the island. He stares at his reflection for a few seconds. He feels it's a reflection of a weak man. He's desperate to change that.

"Come on guys, it's time for some training."

* * *

 **Twinleaf Town, Sinnoh**

"Happy birthday darling!"

"Huh? What's happening Mum?"

"Come on lazy! It's already 11AM. You don't want to sleep through your big day do you?"

"Ugh!"

"Come on Dawn! You're 19 now! You're an adult, so start acting like one and get up! There are family members coming to visit at noon."

Dawn sits up in bed, still dozy with sleep in her eyes. She isn't looking forward to being visited by her boring uncles and aunties and her weird cousins. On her bedside desk, a picture frame catches her eye. The picture is of her, exactly one year ago. She was celebrating her 18th birthday with her travelling companions Ash, Hugo and Brock. They hadn't done anything special to celebrate it. The boys had asked her what she wanted to do on her big day, and of course she'd said go shopping. She loved shopping. It was simple and low key. This was partly because she didn't like everyone making a huge fuss of her, partly because they all felt that they were being unfair on Hugo by holding big birthday celebrations, since they didn't know his birthday and he didn't really have family to celebrate with either.

She smiles, but feels sad inside. It hasn't been long since she parted ways with the boys. Just under three weeks, to be precise. She really misses them though.

Dawn gets up, not bothering to change out of her blue night gown. She wanders downstairs, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Happy birthday sweetie." Joanna, her mum, says softly as she hands her a wrapped up present at the bottom of the stairs.

"Gee. Thanks." Dawn replies sleepily and unenthusiastically.

She unwraps her present which turns out to be some new clothes. Joanna knew that Dawn would love these clothes, but her daughter shows no reaction whatsoever.

"...Honey, I know why you're feeling down."

Dawn looks up at her with a blank expression.

"You miss your friends, don't you?"

There's a pause for a moment, until tears begin to well up in Dawn's eyes.

"Oh Mum! I tried to settle in back at home but it's just not the same! I really want to go back to travelling again! I'm sorry!"

Mother and daughter embrace in a gentle hug.

"I understand. After all your adventures, a regular job no longer seems an option for you. I considered this when I bought you this present."

Joanna hands a much smaller gift to Dawn. Curious, she quickly unwraps the present.

The young bluenette's eyes light up when she sees her gift. "A Plane ticket... To Kanto?!"

"Yes dear. I know you turned down the chance to go with Ash and his friends so you could accept that modelling offer, but it just isn't for you. I truly believe you can get back on the road to becoming a top coordinator if you set your mind to it."

"Thank you so much Mum!" Dawn squeals excitedly, embracing her in another hug. But this time, it's out of happiness rather than longing for comfort.

"That's my girl." A content smile forms on Joanna's face.

* * *

 **Pewter City, Kanto**

"That's right. Two more days then I leave to begin my education, aiming to become a pokémon doctor." Brock seems to be speaking to a friend or relative on the phone in his bedroom. He's wearing his usual attire of late, a collared black shirt with orange stripes down each side, black trousers and black trainers. His brown hair is fairly short and spiky. He's fairly tall, but at just over six foot, he looks like an ant compared with Hugo.

"BREAKING NEWS!" The TV suddenly blurts out.

"Cinnabar Island's gym was today hit by an attacker with a mysterious weapon. The gym leader, Blaine, has allegedly been killed amid the chaos. Several witnesses reported a sort of stick being used to 'absorb' pokémon into it, and a gun being involved in the situation. In the event of the attack, several casualties were-" The news report is cut off. A middle aged man who looks very threatening appears on the screen. It's the same man who had attacked Hugo.

"Gym leaders of Kanto." He speaks in a very serious tone, addressing the camera directly.

"You must close all gyms down immediately. You have been warned."

"Woah! What was all that about? Sorry Bob I'll call you back." Brock puts down his phone and sits quietly in his room, contemplating what he just saw.

A short time later, another report comes on the TV.

"This just in, the Indigo League officials have officially announced that all Kanto gyms will be closed with immediate effect until an issue has been resolved. Repeat, all Kanto gyms will be closed with immediate effect until an issue has been resolved."

"I cannot believe this. What the hell is going on?" Brock paces up and down his bedroom.

* * *

 **Viridian City airport**

A plane coming from Sinnoh lands on the airport runway before gradually coming to rest. Among the passengers to get off is Dawn. Now, Dawn is probably not the same Dawn you know. Maybe she used to be, but she has changed. At 19 years of age, she dresses differently now. She wears a brown vest and her favourite mini skirt. She now simply allows her hair to flow freely, not restrained by clips, bobbles or hats. She's around 5 foot 5, and her appearance now definitely attracts the attention of males, which Dawn is starting to become more aware of. Walking down the steps from the plane she looks around, curious as to what sort of views she can expect to see in Kanto.

A short time later, she departs the airport, bringing only a few clothes and of course her pokémon's pokéballs as luggage.

"Now… where the hell are those guys?"

* * *

 **Pewter City**

"Be careful Brock. Kanto isn't the same as when you were growing up." A woman stands at the door of Brock's house as he wears a backpack, ready to depart.

"I understand your worries Mum, but I'll be fine. I need to speak with an old friend to discuss the recent news. I still can't believe we spent all that time travelling together and I never got her number." Brock explains quickly, eager to get moving.

His Mother smiles. "Okay, remember to call me daily!"

"Mum! I'm twenty-five years old! I don't need to call you every day!" With that, Brock takes off. Through Mount Moon and onwards to Cerulean City is the plan.

* * *

 **Viridian City**

"Did you hear the news?" A skinny man asks to his friends. One is female, the other a chubby male. As he asks this, Dawn is walking by attempting with limited success to read the map of the city she'd picked up at the airport. Interested in what news he's referring to, she halts her walk. Still staring at the map in her hands, she begins to eavesdrop.

"I did. I just can't believe it!" The chubby man says with his head in his hands. His voice is ridiculously deep.

"It's every pokémon trainer's worst nightmare!" The skinny man agrees. "I just can't understand what sort of evil prick would do such a thing!"

"It's been confirmed now, too." The woman pipes in. "He's dead. Gym leader Blaine is dead. They found his battered body under the rubble of the wall that collapsed in the Gym." Upon hearing this, Dawn's eyes widen.

"So now the next Indigo League's been cancelled. I heard they're cancelling all of this season's contests too!" The woman continues to explain. Upon hearing this, Dawn gives out a loud gasp.

"Excuse me." She taps the chubby man on the shoulder, getting all three of the stranger's attention. "What exactly is going on?!"

* * *

 **Cerulean City**

"Ha! I told you Croagunk. It may have been a while but I still know Mount Moon like the back of my hand." Brock is busy boasting to his Pokémon as the pair of them enter Cerulean City.

"Now, let's hope Misty hasn't moved recently or we're pretty much screwed and we'll never find her."

"Me? Move?! Yeah right! This is the best city in Kanto!"

Brock turns around to see a woman familiar to his peculiar eyes. Misty looks very similar to how she looked when he last saw her, despite that being several years ago. The ginger woman ties her hair in a ponytail. She now wears white shorts, but for some reason, a yellow hoodie; This seems a bit much for the warm Kanto weather. Brock, being used to the cold climate of Sinnoh by this point, has been saying that it feels like he's in Alola, it's so much warmer.

"Ah, I get it. You're wearing that to hide your small tits."

Misty promptly gives Brock a hard slap in the face. "You haven't seen me in years and the first thing you do is insult my tits?! What a crappy friend you are!"

"Says you! How many times have you been texting and phoning Ash these past few years?! I couldn't even get your number!"

"I hardly ever messaged him. What are you.."

"Yeah, sure. You're all like 'Ooh, Ash. Send me a sexy picture of yourself training I can masturbate to.' then you expect me to believe you're just 'friends'?!"

"What a load of bollocks! As if I said that! You know we're not all totally obsessed with sex like you, Brock."

"Huh. It's nice to see you again Misty." Brock says in the most sarcastic tone he can.

"Sure, whatever." Misty grunts. Brock then gives her a cheeky grin. "Don't you dare say what I think you're-" She begins to grumble with gritted teeth.

"You're just wishing I was Ash, aren't you?" Brock grins from ear to ear as he says this, he turns around and runs as fast as he can.

"THAT'S IT! I'M GONNA KILL YOU YA STUPID PRICK!" She bolts after him with both her fists clenched.

* * *

 **Viridian City**

"I'm terribly sorry. I certainly haven't seen anyone matching your description." Nurse Joy shakes her head with a frown.

"I've asked all the Joys who do shifts here now, haven't I?" Dawn asks, crossing her arms and tapping her foot with impatience.

"I believe so. Your friend clearly hasn't been here. I think we'd remember seeing someone tall enough to bang their head on our doors. They are quite high." The Nurse glances over to the automatic double door at the entrance.

"Ugh… that buffoon has gone and gotten himself killed hasn't he?! I knew it! Seriously, he can't even make it through ONE route without me there to mother him?! What sort of idiots do I hang around with?"

"Normally, I'd recommend contacting the police about a missing person, but they've got their hands tied at the minute with what's been going on lately..." Joy explains.

"If I go over to Route One and find out he's given up because he got too hungry, I'll be cross." A frustrated Dawn stomps out of the pokémon centre, intent on locating Hugo's corpse.

* * *

 **Cerulean City**

Brock and Misty are now sat on a bench near Cerulean cape. It's quiet, so they are able to discuss what they need to without anyone eavesdropping. "So what are you planning to do about the gyms being closed?" Brock asks.

Misty rolls her eyes. "What do you think? Sit here twiddling my thumbs? I'm gonna get to the bottom of this, obviously."

"Huh? How's that gonna work?" Brock stares at the cave, pondering the possibilities.

"You're gonna come with me to Cinnabar!" She remarks in a demanding tone.

"Oh, am I now? I don't recall agreeing to this arrangement." Brock feigns surprise. In reality, he was expecting this from Misty.

"Put it like this. You're coming with me or I'll shove my fist up your arse!"

Brock doesn't move an inch, simply sitting there with a big grin.

Misty puts her face in her hands and groans. "Bad choice of wording. You'd probably enjoy that."

"Ahem."

"Ok, you'd definitely enjoy that."

Brock grins. Neither of them have changed one bit.

"You make me sick." She spits at him.

"Thank you."

"COME ON JUST SHAG ALREADY!" A male voice bellows from behind.

Brock and Misty turn around to see some creepy man with a camera who was hiding behind a tree. He legs it as fast as he can away from the scene.

"You know, if you'd just given me your number, I wouldn't have had to travel all this way just to turn around and go back. You could've just told me the plan and came over to me!"

"I know. But your suffering is my happiness." Misty grins. She won't admit it, but she's missed Brock.

* * *

 **Unknown location**

Hugo and his four pokémon have been on a desert island, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, for three weeks now.

"Come on, faster!" Hugo and Shinx are sprinting around the circumference of the circular island as fast as they can. They reach a large banana tree and stop. Hugo then gets down to the sand and begins doing push-ups. There's a grimace on his face as he struggles more and more with each repetition. Eventually, he makes it to forty and stops. He then grabs onto a sturdy branch on another tree and begins performing pull-ups. As he's doing this, Shinx is repeatedly climbing up and jumping off a small rocky cliff nearby. It's not big, but still very impressive for a pokémon with no hands. Kabutops is surfing around the edge of the island. It's particularly difficult as it has to create its own waves in the calm water. Tyranitar is possibly the most impressive. Despite its huge size and weight, it's following Hugo's training; running around the island, doing push-ups, even squats are included. Lastly, there's Rotom. The ghost type is probably the least hard-working, but even so, its speed and attack power have definitely increased in the last three weeks. There are now many holes in the ground as a result of Rotom practising its attacks.

The group are able to train so much due to one thing; there's a small pond in the middle of the island. It's not much bigger than a standard table, but the water within seems to do something very strange. Every time Hugo or his pokémon take a drink, they seem to regain their energy really fast. Some kind of special water, maybe? Who knows?

Hugo and Shinx are racing another lap of the island. With the advantage of much longer legs, Hugo strides into the lead. They both put in a final burst of effort as they approach the banana tree they use as the finish line. So much so that Hugo stumbles over the line, landing with his chest on the soft sand below. As he lies on the sand catching his breath, he notices something: Two boats are floating on the calm water, around a hundred feet from the shore. They are the same boats that they'd arrived in.

Hugo stands up straight, not bothering to get any of the sand off of his clothes. He jogs over to the water and dives in, beginning the swim towards the boats. Upon reaching them, he climbs into the smaller boat. Inside are all of his things; his pokéballs, his money and there's even a fresh change of clothes (the exact same clothes he's currently wearing.) He'd not thought about it, but his clothes probably stink. He glances back over to the shore where Kabutops, Shinx and Tyranitar are standing, watching him. Rotom is floating next to them.

"Come on guys. It's time to go."

* * *

 **Mount Moon**

"WOW! She's F-I-T!" Brock wolf whistles at a woman in the distance.

"Stop it! Can't we just walk in peace?!" Misty complains in her usual angry tone.

"Look, this is my hunting ground. All the fit birds come to Mount Moon. They all wanna see Clef-"

"OH CRAP!" Misty suddenly freezes in her track.

"Oh, don't tell me..." Brock groans, hoping she doesn't ask what he expects she will.

"You've got spare repels, right?" Misty asks, more out of hope than expectation.

"I just used my last one! I told you I was running low and you said you'd pick some up from the shop."

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did! Don't even try to pretend-" At that moment, Brock's last repel runs out.

"RUUUUUUN!" Brock and Misty scream. They begin sprinting through Mount Moon as quickly as possible. Hundreds of Zubat come swarming in, screeching and making a huge amount of noise.

* * *

 **Route 1**

"Ugh! Why is Kanto so bad for phone signal?! I can't even call the missing person helpline!" Dawn is getting frustrated as she paces around route 1, trying to search for her lost companion. "That's it! I give up! He's gotten himself killed!"

"Since when did you talk to yourself so much?" A familiar voice asks Dawn from behind.

Dawn turns around, filled with rage. She steps towards them and with as much force as she can she swings her leg up and kicks them in the balls. As she tilts her neck up to look at him, she sees that Hugo appears to be in really good shape. She wouldn't ever admit it to him, but having him with her makes her feel much safer, as he's the type of guy who people looking for a fight wouldn't dare to go near. However, all she feels at the moment is anger towards him.

"Ooooooh..." Hugo collapses to his knees, both hands on his crotch as his eyes are watering.

"What the hell?! How dare you go missing like that?! Didn't you ever consider people might worry about you?!" Dawn stomps her feet, taking out her frustration on Hugo.

"Look, it's a long story..." Hugo manages to say, still on his knees holding his crotch.

"Well tell me it." Dawn sits down, folding her arms.

"Uh, well, ya see, there was a crazy man with a big stick who attacked us, then there was an old dude who took us away on some boats, then we trained on this island with magic water, then I rowed back here, and my Pokémon are dead now, and… oooooh. It's not been good, Dawn."

Dawn stares at Hugo as they both sit on the short swaying grass atop a hill on route 1. He looks a lot better physically. He's way more muscular than the last time she saw him, which was less than a month ago.

"Have you been on drugs?" She asks in a sad tone, expecting that to be the case.

"No." Hugo stands up. "I didn't think there was any water on Route one, but there it is..." He turns and points behind him, expecting to see the boat he'd gotten out of a few minutes ago floating in the water. Instead, he sees a flat grassy area. There appears to be nothing special about this area.

"Hugo, are you feeling okay?" Dawn stands up, placing a hand on his shoulder, which she can barely reach.

"Look, there's certain people, like me and Ash. Weird things just happen to us, y'know?"

"Bad things are happening Hugo."

"You mean like pokémon being murdered by strange men? I found that out the hard way."

"What do you mean?" Dawn's eyes widen.

"Drifblim and Hippowdon. They were both killed by some psycho with a stick."

"Impossible!" Dawn exclaims with a high level of surprise in her voice.

"What are you doing here, Dawn? You're supposed to be in Sinnoh. You were going to become a model."

"I changed my mind. Look! That's not important. Something bad has happened-"

"Dawn. It was your dream. You just gave up that easily?"

"I SAID IT'S NOT IMPORTANT!" Dawn screams much louder than she means to. The effort of shouting so loud leaves her having to catch her breath.

"Come on!" She grabs his arm, pulling him along with her. "You're coming with me to Viridian."

"Dawn… what's going on?" Hugo asks as he's pulled along at a pace.

"I changed my mind. I wanted to enter contests, but now they're cancelled."

"Well that makes your decision easier, right? You can go back to being a model?"

"SHUT UP ABOUT THAT MODELLING CRAP!"

Hugo can see that his friend is not in a good mood. Neither is he after the loss of his two pokémon. He won't let his face show that though. He's determined to get to the bottom of why that man did what he did and put it all behind him.

The pair walk in silence for a few minutes until they arrive at the gates of Viridian city. Dawn releases her tight grip on Hugo's arm and sits on a nearby bench. Putting her head on her knees and hands on her head, Hugo can hear soft sobbing noises coming from her.

"Hey, uh… look. I'm not good at this stuff but… you can just tell me what's wrong, y'know?"

"What's the point?" Dawn asks, not bothering to move her head and look up. "You wouldn't understand. You're a boy. All boys are the same."

Hugo sits on the bench beside her. "I get it." He says quietly.

"You missed the adventuring, right?"

Dawn finally lifts up her head, revealing her eyes are now bloodshot from tears.

"I couldn't do it, okay? I tried to pursue my dream, but after our journey, my hopes and dreams are even bigger than what they used to be. I'm a spoiled brat."

"Not true. And there's no need to worry. I get it. So, why are the contests cancelled?"

Dawn gives Hugo a seriously serious stare. He's not used to such serious levels of seriousness. It's so serious, it makes him feel seriously uncomfortable. "You haven't heard, have you? Blaine, the fire-type gym leader, was killed!"

Hugo flinches. "By what? Or Who?"

Dawn speaks quietly and sounds a little depressed. "Some man with a strange weapon is what I heard."

Hugo frowns. "So I'm guessing all the gyms are closed now too."

Dawn gives Hugo a sarcastic thumbs up "You got it, genius. They may re-open them again if they manage to find a successor for Blaine, but I'm not sure many people would fancy the job for fear of being the next victim."

Dawn stares at Hugo for a moment. "So… what actually happened to you?"

Hugo stares at the ground, not making eye contact. "Let's just say… a strange man killed two of my pokémon...and his own Pikachu."

Dawn's eyes widen with surprise. "WHAT?!"

Hugo looks towards the ground and shakes his head sadly. "This sucks. We've gotta do something."

At that moment, among the various passers-by is a fairly tall, middle aged man. He has short brown hair, cut in a style so that it's flat at the top. He's wearing a black suit and red tie with black work trousers as well as some expensive looking black shoes. His walk looks more like a march, until he notices Hugo and Dawn. He stops and turns towards them.

"I must compliment you young man. You obviously work hard to have gained such a physique." The man speaks clearly yet his words somehow seem powerful. Hugo takes this as a fancy way of saying 'you look strong.' "Thank you." He replies, curious as to why this man is bothering him.

"I must say, I have been looking for a person such as yourself who may be able to assist me with an important job. I'll give you this, and I'd like you to consider my offer." The man hands Hugo what appears to be a business card of some sort.

"Unfortunately, if you do agree to this, for confidential reasons your missus will not be allowed to come with you." He gestures towards Dawn. "Nevertheless, I hope you will agree to this arrangement and I shall see you shortly." The man gets back to his 'march' through town, leaving Hugo and Dawn curious as to who he was.

Dawn peers over Hugo's shoulder as they both read the card in his hand.

On the card is some plain black text:

'To those interested: Please consider coming to the adress: 04 Firered Road, Viridian city at 11PM on Thursday. Come alone. -G'

"Weird." Hugo comments. "Do you think I should trust him? That's in only a few hours time."

"No." Dawn says very quickly, before realising she's talking to Hugo. "Which is exactly why you will, isn't it?"

Hugo grins. "You know me too well."

Dawn frowns. "Okay, but you better be careful… wait a minute! The nerve of that man! He called me your-"

* * *

 **Firered Road, Viridian City**

"Of all the stupid things to do! You leave your pokémon at the pokémon centre now of all times? You seriously lack the patience to wait FIVE MINUTES for them to be healed?!" Dawn is once again frustrated by Hugo's actions as they approach the building they're looking for. It's a detatched brick house with a long driveway. A total of four cars are parked outside, but it's too dark to see what kind. Cars are incredibly expensive in the pokémon world. He must be one very wealthy dude. The house itself, however, appears no different in design to all the other houses on the street.

"Oh come on. What's the worst that could happen?" Hugo puts his hands on the back of his head, spreading his elbows out.

"You get killed!" Dawn answers his stupid question.

"Hey, I'll be fine. Look. It's just a regular building. He's just some normal dude. Probably wants me to lift some heavy boxes around for him.

"He specified no companions, was very secretive about it AND wanted to meet at night. You think it's all to lift boxes?!" Dawn questions yet another stupid remark.

"No need to worry. I'll be fine. You wanna wait around while I go in?"

"That's my line! And this is stupid! You want a little girl like me to wait around in middle of the street late at night, defenseless?!" Dawn can't believe how someone can be so ridiculous.

"You're, like, nineteen now. You'll be fine." With that Hugo begins walking up the driveway.

"Yeah, and not once have you asked me if I had a good birthday!" Dawn yells from behind. "Ugh! Boys!"

"Yeah I know. I prefer girls too!" A familiar voice calls from down the road. Dawn turns around to see Brock walking towards her, looking very happy to see her. He's with some ginger woman Dawn doesn't recognise.

"I got your text." He explains. "Because unlike SOMEBODY you actually gave me your number." He looks directly at the ginger woman when he says 'somebody.' "Wish Hugo could have a phone. Would make things easier."

"Buy him one then?" The ginger girl asks.

Brock and Dawn stare at each other. "You haven't met Hugo, have you Misty?" Brock asks. "We've bought him one twice. Both times he lost it the next day."

Dawn chuckles. "Let's not exaggerate now Brock. The first time it actually lasted 2 days."

"Ugh! So basically, he's another Ash?" Misty groans.

"That's right! You haven't met Dawn, have you?" Brock asks Misty.

Misty shakes her head. "I haven't, but I've heard good things." She shakes hands with Dawn and smiles, which surprises Brock. He never once got her to smile since he'd met up with her the other day and Dawn managed it within a minute of meeting her.

"So you decided to pursue more contests after all, huh?" Brock asks, having been informed via text what Dawn was up to the past few weeks.

"That's right. A last minute decision I know." Dawn pretends to laugh. "And now they're cancelled..." "For the time being." Misty chimes in. "Once we find out what's going on and sort it out, things can get back to normal again."

"Hey..." Brock interrupts. "I thought for sure you'd try to meet up with Hugo. Were you not able to find him yet?" He asks, curious as to the whereabouts of his close friend.

Dawn shakes her head. "The idiot was hard to track down, but I found him in the end. At the moment, he's in there meeting up with some man about something..." She points over to the building. She then realises that Brock and Misty had distracted her while Hugo was entering the building. She never saw who answered after he knocked on the front door.

"Hmm… sounds suspicious, but very much like Hugo. He's way too trusting." Brock scratches his chin, pondering what to do about the matter.

"Tell me about it!" Dawn agrees. "He even left his pokémon at the centre!"

Misty face-palms. "By the sounds of it, he's Ash 2.0! No doubt the fool's been killed in there by now."

Brock looks concerned. "What exactly is he doing in there?"

Dawn explains their brief encounter with the man earlier that day.

"Can you tell us more about this man?" Brock asks, so Dawn does her best to describe the appearance of the man in detail.

"Uh-oh." Brock says when Dawn is done with her description. He and Misty slowly turn their heads to face each other. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Misty asks. "Of course! Very few would recognise him, but we know who he is from our adventures with Ash." Brock agrees.

"Giovanni!" They exclaim together.


	3. Chapter 3

**27 Bluegreen Lane, Viridian City**

"Welcome! Come in! I'm glad you could make it! Now allow me to introduce myself. My name is Giovanni." Giovanni shakes hands with Hugo as he welcomes him into what appears to be his home.

"Please, keep your shoes on and follow me. Our discussion is about to begin now that everyone's here."

"Thanks. It's Hugo by the way." Hugo says as looks around the hallway they're in. There are many pictures on the walls of Giovanni in many different scenarios. In one of them he's standing triumphantly next to a fainted Rhydon, looking proud to have won a tough pokémon battle. In another he's happily grooming a Persian. Another picture depicts him appearing to give orders to a large group of men and women. The men and women are all wearing white, but they have their back to the camera that took the photo so the front of their shirts can't be seen.

"Excellent. Come, young Hugo. The others are down here, in the basement." Giovanni leads Hugo down some stairs into a faintly lit room with no carpet. There are four other young men sat around a table. Four other people are stood around them. Two men and two women, all wearing thick black coats. Hugo wonders why they're dressed so heavily, they must be really hot.

"Please Hugo. Take a seat."

Giovanni stands at the back of the room where the light is poorest. The four heavily dressed characters stand beside him, two per side. Hugo and the four others turn their chairs so they can see him.

"Gentlemen, thank you for coming. You see, the reason I brought you here is simple; you are all competent battlers we've been observing for a while.

Hugo is immediately confused by this. How has this man he's never met been observing him?

Giovanni focuses his dark gaze upon one of the other men. "Jack, I applaud you for your performance in the last Indigo League."

"Thank you." Jack smiles nervously. He doesn't look comfortable being here at all.

"Peter and Toby, you two are two of the best trainers Viridian City has to offer."

The two men both put on a fake smile upon receiving this compliment. Something about the way Giovanni speaks seems to be making everyone nervous.

"Julian. You're something special. You've fought off Team Rocket on a number of occasions." Julian doesn't even bother to smile or thank him, giving him a serious glare.

"Now, what I would like you men to do is-"

"Excuse me, uh, Giovanni." Hugo speaks up.

"Ah, I was going to ask for questions in a moment, but go ahead." Giovanni responds in a very calm manner.

"How could you possibly have observed me? I've never entered any pokémon league, nor am I from around here. I am hardly famous either."

"Actually, young Hugo, I know more of your accomplishments than any others here. I was given a detailed description of you by two of my employees who were very eager to get you on board with our mission. I must say, it took you quite some time to travel from Pallet Town to Viridian City didn't it?"

Hugo is stunned. How can this man possibly know this much about him?

"Sorry to be a nuisance, but can I ask who these employees were?"

"Not a nuisance at all." Giovanni responds. "But I'm struggling to answer your question. What were their names now? They slip my mind, but it was the two with colourful hair. They travel around with that unusual Meowth." "Prrrrrrrrr." An aggressive purring can be heard from the darkest corner of the room. "I believe they have since travelled to the Kalos region."

Hugo definitely knows who Giovanni is referring to. He stands up quickly. "That means you're..."

Giovanni calmly waves his hands vertically, as if to say 'sit back down'.

"Ah, it seems you've got me all figured out. You see, I am indeed a member of Team Rocket. Some might even say I am their leader. But please, I've no intention of attacking any of you. Allow me to explain my reason for bringing you here."

The other four men all stand up, looking very unhappy to be there.

"Criminal!" Peter shouts angrily.

"Disgrace!" Julian yells furiously.

"Ok, well I was going to do this AFTER our talk but it seems things haven't quite gone as expected. Never mind." Giovanni claps his hands twice. On cue, the four coated characters zip down their coats, revealing their Team Rocket uniforms. The table the men were all sat around is lowered into the ground by some sort of machine. In its place rises up a large, transparent, sphere shaped object.

"Enjoy our mind-control amplifier." Giovanni says in his usual calm tone as he marches up the stairs out of the basement.

"Oy! Where do you think you're-" Two of the men try to chase him, but by the time they reach the bottom of the stairs, two more Rocket grunts come rushing down, blocking their way. For some reason, they are both wearing quality looking earmuffs.

"Deploy Hypno's!" One of the grunts yells. All at once, the six grunts throw two pokéballs each, summoning a total of twelve Hypnos.

"What is this madness?!" Peter yells, reaching for his pokéballs. "We have no chance but to fight ba-"

"HYPNO HYPNO!" All of the Hypno's begin to use a move. By this point Hugo notices the other four grunts have also equipped themselves with earmuffs. "HYPNO HYPNO!" Strange, hypnotic looking waves begin to fill the room. The sound created by these Hypno is nothing like Hugo has ever heard before. The waves seem to reflect off the strange looking contraption in the middle of the room, appearing to make them much more intense. Hugo looks around. Three of the men are glaring at the Hypno's surrounding them with emotionless expressions on their faces. Julian has his hands over his ears, trying to drown out the noise. This appears to work for a few seconds, until eventually he too succumbs to their hypnosis attack and stares at them, emotionless.

A few moments pass and the mass hypnosis attack ends. All of the Hypnos are returned to their pokéballs and the grunts remove their earmuffs. "I'll get the boss." One of the grunts on the stairs explains as they exit the room.

The five remaining grunts walk around the room high-fiving each other.

"Yeah! Awesome job!" One of the female grunts exclaims.

"Look at them! They're like zombies!" Another female grunt says, looking very pleased with what they've done. She's right. The four other men are stood with a very straight posture with their arms by their side and a blank expression on their face. Hugo decides the best thing to do is pretend that he's also brainwashed. Wait a minute… why isn't he brainwashed?

"WAHEY! Look at this bunch of wankers!" One of the male grunts decides to have some fun. He punches Julian in the face as hard as he can, giving him a bloody nose. Julian flinches as his head is knocked back due to the force of the punch, but he does not react and continues standing straight, emotionless. "That's what you get for calling big G a disgrace, dickhead!"

"Bring them up!" Giovanni's voice calls from above.

"Okay, come on zombies." One of the females orders. The four other guys begin to follow her up the stairs. The second female and one of the guys follows them, leaving just two male grunts in the basement with Hugo, who had stupidly forgotten he was supposed to go with the woman when they were ordered to.

"Hey, what's up with this one? I think it's broken." One of the men states, and the other grunt sneers. By this point, Hugo has given up on pretending to be brainwashed so he just stands there with his hands in his pockets, deciding that talking would be unwise.

"Maybe he's so stupid he can't remember how to walk!" The same man remarks while his mate is still laughing.

"Should I switch it off and back on again?" He continues to joke around while the other grunt is absolutely hysterical.

Hugo decides to have some fun with them.

"Me need to follow lady?" He asks, trying to sound as unintelligent as possible.

One of the grunts has a tear in his eye from laughter by this point. "I love mind control!" He blurts out, through his laughter.

"Another one unable to follow orders?" A voice calls down from above.

"Yeah, give us five minutes we'll use our Hypno's again." One of the two grunts calls back. The two men reach for their pokéballs, but Hugo doesn't really fancy listening to that horrible noise the Hyno's make again.

"What dat?" He asks in his dumbest tone of voice possible. He points with both hands towards the grunt who'd been teasing him. Specifically, he points towards his crotch.

"What? My trousers?" The man asks, holding his two pokéballs, one in each hand.

"No, dat!" Hugo keeps up his act.

"My hips? My shirt? I don't get it. What you pointing at?"

"Dat thing dere!" Hugo shouts in his idiot voice.

The second grunt is once again hysterical "I think he's on about your penis, mate!"

"What?" The first grunt exclaims. "Are you a gay zombie or something?"

"Dat thing! Why does it stick out?" Hugo asks, struggling to keep himself from laughing.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA! He must be on about your boner mate!" The second grunt is loving this conversation.

"I don't even have a bo- oy! You're taking the piss!" The first grunt finally catches Hugo out as he notices him struggling to hold back his laughter.

"You're asking for it pal!" In a typically unintelligent move for a Team Rocket grunt, instead of just using his pokémon to attack, the grunt instead puts his pokéballs back in his pockets and throws a punch straight at Hugo. This particular grunt is of less than average height and cannot even reach his face so he has to settle for punching his chest. In response, Hugo picks him up by the elbows, rendering him unable to throw any more punches.

"Okay, you got me!" Hugo admits. "But I'm twice your height and weight." "And five times as strong!" The second grunt adds.

"You really want to pick a fight with me?" Hugo asks with a grin since he already knows the answer. The grunt merely shakes his head, obviously terrified.

"Good." Hugo puts him back down.

"Now please excuse me while I make an exit." He begins to stroll towards the stairs and out of the room. As he walks past the second grunt they give each other a fist bump. "Respect man. That was awesome!" The grunt exclaims as he wipes away his tears from laughing so hard, not caring that they're supposed to be enemies.

The Team Rocket pair stand and watch as Hugo walks up to the top of the stairs, looks around to ensure there are no grunts around, then bursts into a run, going out of their view. "Wait a minute..." Realises the second grunt. "How the hell is he not hypnotised?"

Meanwhile, Hugo sprints over to the door at the end of the corridor. There is a rectangular window next to it, much larger vertically than it is horizontally. He kicks it as hard as he can, successfully smashing it to pieces. He carefully slides through the shattered window as shouts of "What's going on?!" and "What the hell was that?!" can be heard from within the building. The house's alarm begins to sound, ringing loudly.

He jogs over to the end of the driveway, where he sees Dawn, Brock and a ginger woman stood waiting for him.

"What the hell happened?!" Dawn asks, having to shout over all the noise.

"I'll explain later. Just run!"

Dawn rolls her eyes as she, Brock and the ginger woman begin running down the street alongside Hugo.

"So…" Hugo begins to ask, running alongside the ginger woman. "I'm Hugo. What's your name?" He expected his response to be her telling him her name, so he gets a surprise when she just slaps him around the face instead.

"Oh..." Hugo rubs his cheek as he continues to run. "Dawn 2.0 apparently."

"That's Misty!" Brock calls from behind. "The one who fancies Ash!"

Hugo is please he only got a slap when he turns around to see Brock receive a punch in the face.

"I don't think anyone's following us!" Dawn calls.

Hugo looks behind, there is indeed nobody there.

"Cool. Let's slow down then." Hugo decides, and they all stop running and begin a fast-paced walk. Dawn, Brock and Misty put their hands on their knees, catching their breath.

"YOU IMBECILE!" Misty shouts angrily. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

Dawn smiles sheepishly at her new friend, while Brock explains. "Told you. He's just like Ash."

"No, he's not! Ash is more...more..."

"Sexy? Attractive?" Hugo asks, deciding to play along with Brock's 'game'.

Expecting a punch to the face, he is surprised when Misty simply turns her back, folds her arms and sticks out her tongue. "You've spent too much time with Brock." She complains.

"So tell me, what ridiculous, dangerous situation did you get yourself into this time?" Dawn asks.

"Well… turns out that house is owned by Team Rocket." Hugo tells them.

"We know..." Dawn, Brock and Misty all reply together, rolling their eyes.

"And that man was their leader."

"We know..." They all reply again.

"And he's way more evil than he seems."

"WE KNOW!" They all reply for a third time.

"And some other dudes got hypnotised, then I legged it outta there!"

"What do you mean?" Asks Brock.

"An army of Hypno's brainwashed some other guys, so I just left when nobody was looking."

"Huh? So why didn't they hypnotise you?" Misty asks, giving him eye contact for the first time.

"I dunno. Wanna go in and ask?"

"Very funny." Misty folds her arms again.

Dawn frowns. "Hugo, you were lying weren't you? You ARE on drugs."

"Come on! You're talking to the guy who owns a Shinx that knows flamethrower! Is that really so hard to believe?"

"One things's for sure: something's not right. We need to figure out what is going on. But before that, let's stay over at the pokémon centre tonight." Brock decides, and the group all agree.

* * *

 **Viridian City**

It's early in the morning, just before 7AM. Hugo is rubbing the sleep out of his eyes having only just gotten dressed as he leaves the Pokémon Centre. He can only assume that Brock & co. are all still asleep.

"H-hey mister." A voice beckons. Hugo looks around, and sees a young looking boy. The boy has green, messy hair and wears a smart looking purple coat. "M-my name is Wally. I'm 12 years old. I just recently started raising my first pokémon, and I was wondering if you'd like to battle me.

Hugo isn't sure what to do. At 21, wouldn't it look weird battling a 12-year-old?

"That's great, kid! Have you battled much yet?"

Wally looks even more nervous. "N-no actually. I'm supposed to be too young to battle Pokémon, but th-they changed it."

Wally's right. Hugo had heard that Kanto recently lowered the minimum age for trainers from 14 to 12. That's ridiculously young, surely! Sinnoh's mimimum age is still 17.

"Good morning. What's going on?" Brock wonders outside having just woken up.

"We're going to have a battle!" Wally exclaims.

"Really? Great idea! I'll be the referee!" Brock is surprisingly enthusiastic considering it's first thing in the morning.

After making their way to the battlefield behind the pokémon centre and having to wait for an intense battle between a Magikarp and a Metapod to finish, Wally's battle with Hugo begins.

"Rotom, let's do this!" Hugo sends out his partner who has now possessed a washing machine, meaning it's in Rotom Wash form.

"Go Ralts!" Wally sends out his partner.

"Ok, battle begin!" Announces Brock.

"Ralts, future sight!" Wally orders.

Ralts glows for a while and then stops.

"Hydro pump!" Hugo winks at Rotom, who fires a hydro pump attack that deliberately misses its target.

"Woooooow! Wally exclaims. "So powerful!"

"Aw shoot, we missed! Now we're defenseless!" Hugo pretends to be worried.

"Confusion!" Wally orders. Ralts's eyes glow red, and it is able to push Rotom a few inches to the side.

"Another hydro pump! Hugo orders. When he's sure Wally isn't looking, he gestures for Rotom to tone down the power. Rotom fires the weakest hydro pump it possibly can, a few splashes of water really. They hit Ralts who makes a poor effort of dodging.

"Nooooo!" Cries Wally. Ralts falls to the floor, fainted.

Just then, a beam of energy appears from nowhere and hits Rotom, obviously the future sight attack.

"Rotototo!" Rotom chuckles, as if it has been tickled.

"And the winner is Hugo!" Brock sighs.

"Um… yay?" Hugo pretends to be excited.

"Ralts, I'm so proud of you. You fought really really really well." Wally tells his partner.

Brock walks over and whispers to Hugo. "You could've gone easy on him mate! He's only a kid!"

"How easy d'ya want me to go?! We could be here all day, that kid ain't knocking anything out."

"Have a word with him." Brock tells him.

"Um…hey, kid."

"Yes, what's up mister?"

"Look, I know you lost and all, but in reality losing is a good thing. You know, I always used to lose to my brother, apparently, but my experience of all those losses helped me learn so much that I was able to defeat him when it mattered most. The only way you can truly lose is if you take nothing away from the experience."

"Really? Th-that's good advice! Th-thank you so much mister!"

"Please, call me Hugo." Hugo smiles.

"How about growing pain? I like that name better." A female voice teases. It's Misty, who just got up.

"Hahaha! Okay, I'm gonna take my Ralts to get all healed up. Thank you, old people!" And with that, Wally dashes off inside the pokémon centre.

"OLD?! The nerve of that kid! We're all in our twenties!" Misty folds her arms and stomps her foot.

"Hey Hugo, now that I see you in the daylight for the first time in a while, I can't help but notice that you're in much better shape than when we left Sinnoh. You joined a gym?" Brock asks.

"Actually, I was trapped on a magical island for weeks with nothing to do except train."

"This guy makes up a lot of bullshit, huh, Brock?" Misty asks.

Brock facepalms. "Trust me Mist, you'd be able to tell if he were kidding. Remember, he's like Ash, things that are unbelievable to most people happen to Hugo every day."

Misty stares at Hugo for a while. "You're not that much like Ash, are you big guy? Ash doesn't have any of this!" She points at Hugo's biceps, which makes him feel uncomfortable. "And he'd NEVER be up at this time! It's barely 7:30."

Hugo scratches his head. "Yeah, sleep is for the weak, I'd much rather be up bright and early having a good workout with my pokémon. Besides, the sooner I'm done working out the sooner I can have breakfast!"

"You should see him eat!" Brock comments.

Misty sighs. "Oh no! Not another bottomless pit."

"Give him some of your cooking, it wouldn't be so bottomless then!" Brock chuckles, until he receives a swift backhand to the face.

"You know what?!" Brock groans. "We live in such a sexist world. Why is it okay for you to hit me and I can't fight back?"

"Because that's how it works!" Misty smiles. "Women are intelligent, beautiful and strong while men are stupid, weak and always horny."

"Now hold on a second! Women are just as bad!" Hugo argues.

"Oh yeah, you know what happens when a good looking girl gets into a crowded area? You know how many men approach me? The men of Kanto are all pervs!"

"Oh yeah?! The women are just as pervy!"

"Yeah right!"

"I can prove it!"

"There's an idea!" Brock interrupts. "We can have a little contest." He grins. "It'll be a long time until Dawn gets out of bed anyway. We have a few hours to kill."

Half an hour later, the pokémon centre is getting crowded. Lots of hustle is going on as many aspiring pokémon masters make their way in and out. Brock is sat quietly in the corner, readying a stopwatch.

Misty walks in, doing her sexiest walk possible. She stops next to a group of young men, and instantly grabs their attention.

"Oh no, my lace is untied." She says in a weirdly seductive way. She pretends to trip, and falls right into the arms of one of the young men, whose face is now bright red. "Oh, I'm so sorry." She whispers sweetly. The young man helps her back to her feet, and looks down at his crotch. "Uh oh… GAH! I gotta get outta here!" He rushes straight into the men's bathroom.

Brock and Misty make their way outside to find Hugo who is sitting at a bench scoffing down a sandwich consisting of Miltank meat.

"What time?" He asks, between bites.

"1 minute 6 seconds." Brock tells him, as Misty folds her arms looking confident that she's going to win.

"Hold my sandwich." Hugo stands up and marches into the centre, with Brock following in order to time him.

He marches straight over to a pair of young women who appear to be tourists staying in the pokémon centre. Neither of them seem to pay him much notice.

"Oh man. It's SO hot in here today." Hugo says loudly. He removes his vest, revealing his tone body. Instantly, both of the women are struggling to keep their eyes off him.

"Man, this heat is making me drowsy." Hugo yawns a long yawn. While doing so, he stretches his arms and flexes his muscles right in front of the women.

"I-I left something in my room. Might take a while to find it." One of the women stammers with a red face. She dashes off into the hotel section which is behind every pokémon centre.

"Really? So did I!" Her friend follows her back into the hotel.

"Hmm. Wonder what it was they forgot?" Hugo grins at Brock, who gives him a high five.

Brock and Hugo make their way out of the centre after Hugo gets fully dressed again.

"45 seconds." Brock laughs. "And he got two of them. He showed you up!"

"Told you women are just as pervy as men!" Hugo winks at Misty.

Misty stomps her feet. "That's unfair! You only won because you took your shirt off!"

"Or maybe I won because I was right and you were wrong?" Hugo laughs, clearly enjoying his victory.

"I hate you both!" Misty groans.

Brock nudges Hugo with his elbow. "She loves us really." He winks.

Not much time has passed since Hugo and Misty's 'competition' and the gang, now joined by a sleepy Dawn, are enjoying breakfast in the Pokémon Centre. Hugo's portion is, of course, larger than everyone else's combined.

"EVERYBODY STAND UP AND PUT YOUR ARMS IN THE AIR!" Suddenly, a group of five men storm into the building. They are all wearing Team Rocket uniforms and one of them is pointing a machine gun at the crowd within the building. The other four guard the entrance.

"WE'RE HERE FOR HUGO! WHERE IS HE?!"

Everyone in the building jumps to their feet and puts their arms in the air, except for Hugo, who continues scoffing down his fifth Miltank meat sandwich of the day. He's a noisy eater, as he scoffs it all down as fast as possible.

"OY!" Calls the grunt. "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! I'M POINTING A GUN AT YOU! YOU'VE GOT THREE SECONDS TO STAND AND PUT YOUR ARMS IN THE AIR OR I'LL BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF!"

"Can't talk. Eating." Hugo casually drops a pokéball to his side. Two seconds later, a giant Tyranitar has almost created a hole in the roof as its head is inches below the ceiling.

"WHAT THE HELL?! YOU CAN'T DO-" Begins the grunt, until Tyranitar bends down and picks him up by the head. The grunt begins to spray bullets at Tyranitar's body, which merely bounce off and land on the floor.

"Seismic toss." Hugo manages to say with a mouthful of food, not even looking up from his sandwich.

Tyranitar throws him as far as it can. The grunt is launched into the other three grunts and all three are sent sprawling out of the door. They all hit the hard ground over 100 yards away from the building, just in time for the police to arrive. Neither Hugo nor any of his friends bother to even glance over to see whether they escape.

"YAAAAAAAAAY!" The crowd of people scattered around the Pokémon Centre cheer.

Hugo finishes his sandwich and stands up. He returns Tyranitar to its pokéball. "Cheers, buddy."

He turns to his companions Dawn and Misty. "We need to go, don't we?" They both nod.

"Wait a minute..." Begins Dawn. "Where's..."

The trip turn around to see Brock leaning over the counter where

"Hey there sexy, I've another pair of balls I'd like you to see, but they're much more impressive." He tells her. The Nurse looks surprised, but before she can respond, Misty's fist connects with Brock's face and he staggers backwards, holding his face in pain. He trips over a table behind him and ends up embarrassingly sprawled out on the floor.

The group are now headed out of Viridian City, in the north direction towards Viridian Forest.

"What do we do now?" Dawn asks, trying to understand a map of Kanto she's holding. "How are we gonna find this man?"

Hugo is next to her, also puzzled by this map. "This whole region is confusing. Why are all the towns named after colours?"

"Easy." Says Brock, who seems to act so differently without attractive women around. "We search for clues."

Right on cue, the group reach the border between Viridian City and Route 2. A young couple can be seen sat on a bench seemingly crying their eyes out.

Out of respect, the gang attempt to quietly make their way past the weeping couple.

"Wait, STOP!" The man shouts to them through his tears. "There's a horrible, HORRIBLE man that way! You DON'T wanna go near him! He has this weird stick, and he did something to my Roselia… and..." The man broke down in tears once again. He hugs his girlfriend who looks equally upset. "My poor poor Pinsir!" She weeps.

"We'll avenge them." Hugo announces as he quickens his walk up to a jog. "Come on guys, let's catch him!"

Brock and Dawn follow, and just behind is Misty, who seems reluctant to run.

"Why… do we always… have to run… when he asks us to?!" She complains.

After fifteen minutes of continuous running, Misty stop. "That's it! I'm not going a step further!" She fumes.

"Bye then!" Hugo waves sarcastically as he carries on without her.

Dawn stops too. "Come on guys, we can't keep leave Misty. Besides, we're charging straight into danger!"

Brock stopped too, and so did Hugo, reluctantly.

"She's right, y'know." Brock tells him. "Besides, we've come a long way since leaving Viridian's Pokémon Centre. I'm feeling hungry, and I've heard Dawn's stomach rumble several times now. Do I even need to ask you if you're hungry?" Right on cue, Hugo's stomach rumbles loudly.

"Let's WALK to the top of that grassy hill over there, and have ourselves a picnic." Misty decides. "Fine!" Hugo gives up, folding his arms. "But after watching your attempts to cook breakfast, if you've prepared any food I ain't eating it, Mist."

"Hmph. You're not as big of a foodie as Ash then. He loved the sandwiches I used to make him." Misty says, insulted.

"Aw, that's cute! Wonder what you did after he'd eaten them?" Brock teases, receiving a high five from Hugo.

"Ugh! You know very well that me and Ash were merely travelling companions and nothing else so I suggest you shut your stupid gob before I shut it for you!"

"Exactly what someone who's madly in love would say." Brock jokes, and he and Hugo burst into laughter. Even Dawn can't help but smile at that one.

Just then they are interrupted by a voice that sounds vaguely familiar to Hugo.

"It's been a while, my battling friend. But now your battling luck will end."

"Who's this clown?" Misty rudely asks, still angry with Brock.

"Johnny's the name, Bug catching's the game." Johnny replies.

"I've caught myself something new. I'd like to test it out in a battle with you." He tells Hugo.

Hugo shrugs. "Sure, why not?" While Brock and the girls set up the picnic at the top of the hill, Hugo and Johnny make their way to the bottom in order to have their battle.

"Pinsir's my pokémon of choice. I'll win easily and then rejoice." Johnny sends out his Pinsir.

"Sure you will pal." Hugo sends out his Rotom, now in fan form.

"Pinsir's muscles aren't just for show. Your chances of a win are low." Johnny teases.

"X-scizzor's the move I'll use. This is going to make you lose." Pinsir uses its X-scizzor attack, hitting Rotom directly. Rotom flinches slightly.

"Air slash." Hugo says. In one swift movement the battle is over.

"I can't believe I lost, but hey! I'll make you lose some other day..." And with that Johnny takes off down the road.

Hugo makes his way to the top of the hill.

"What a thrilling battle!" Dawn remarks sarcastically.

"Had to be at the top of my game to win that one." Hugo replies, seeing that the picnic food has now been laid out.

"Finally, time to eat-" "OH MY GOD!"

"Huh? Did you hear something?" Asks Brock.

"Sounded like a female voice." Says Dawn.

"An exhausted female." Adds Misty.

"IS IT REALLY YOU?!" The voice calls, getting closer.

Hugo can't help but think he's heard that voice before, but the slightest effort to remember where he's heard it results in an intense headache.

"Gyaaah." Hugo collapses to his knees.

"Hugo, we talked about this. What did I tell you about trying to remember?" Brock tells him in a very serious tone.

"N-no…that voice..." He says, but tries his best not to think about it due to the headache it causes.

The source of the voice arrives. A young woman runs over. This woman is incredibly skinny, to the point where she looks ill. She has long brown hair, wears a light green vest and a red skirt. Her brown eyes look desperate, as if there's something she needs that she cannot be given. When she gets closer it's clear that this girl is very tall for a woman. She's around the same height as Brock, and towers over Misty and Dawn.

She runs straight past Misty, Brock and Dawn, who are all trying to enjoy their picnic and goes straight over to Hugo. Since he's down on his knees she grabs his hand and pulls him to his feet, then embraces him in a hug.

"H-Hugo. I can't believe it. It's really you." She wraps her arms tightly around his waist, making it more difficult for him to breathe.

"Y-yeah. It's me." He answers.

"Oh, there's so many things for us to talk about." She says. "So many bad things have happened."

"Y-yeah, I'm sure there are." He replies. His face has now turned red from embarrassment due to the fact that he doesn't have a clue who she is.

The girl's eyes widen, and she immediately stops her hug and takes a step back from Hugo.

"Y-you don't remember me, do you?" She looks distraught.

"Well, uh… I… uh..." He scratches the back of his head and smiles sheepishly.

"Oh, spit it out!" Misty interrupts. "He doesn't have a clue who you are! Look at him!"

"Oy, Mist! That's rude!" Says Brock.

"Fuck off Brock, arsehole!" Misty replies.

The anorexic girl looks devastated. Tears begin to well up in her eyes. She collapses to her knees.

"No. NO! NOOOOO!" She screams, bursting into tears.

"Oh crap." Hugo complains, not knowing what to do other than stand there awkwardly.

Dawn wonders over, getting in-between the girl and Hugo. She kneels down with the girl, and speaks to her in a soft, quiet tone.

"Shh. It's okay. No need to worry. You know, Hugo forgot EVERYTHING."

The girl sobs. "Yes, I was told that, but I thought for sure he'd remember me once he saw me."

Dawn turns around and frowns at Hugo. "Speak to her. Come on." She tells him.

Hugo kneels down with the girl as Dawn stands up and takes a step back, to where Brock and Misty are now standing. Hugo's eye catches the food behind them, but Dawn scowls at him, indicating he should focus on comforting this girl.

"Hi, look, I'm really sorry..."

The girl continues to sob. "You really don't have a clue? It's me! Leaf!"

Hugo's eyes widen. He still can't remember a thing, but he gets a horrible feeling that associates that name with a dark, suffering past.


	4. Chapter 4

**This is my personal favourite chapter out of anything I've ever written. I really hope you enjoy this as a huge amount of thought and effort has gone into it. It's quite strong in the feeling department, so brace yourself for an epic tale. Feedback is appreciated. Thank you.  
**

 **This chapter contains multiple references to my previous story 'I Don't Remember'.**

After a bit more crying, Leaf begins to calm down somewhat.

Hugo is now sat with her at the edge of the hill. Brock, Misty and Dawn are standing over them. Hugo keeps trying to get a glance over at the picnic blanket of food behind them, but his three friends are deliberately blocking his view of it.

"This is torture for him." Dawn smirks as she whispers to Misty.

Leaf sits up straight. "You left me. You know that? You left me all alone."

"I did?" Asks Hugo, confused.

"You know what I've been doing every single day since the day you left?" She quizzes him.

Hugo shrugs. "Ballet practise?" Brock instantly bursts out laughing at his friend's stupid remark, ruining the emotional moment.

"NO! I've been searching for you! Every single day! For over three years!"

"WHAT?!" Hugo is shocked by this.

"You left me this note. I held onto it ever since." She explains.

She reaches into her backpack and grabs a folded up sheet of paper. It's very creased and has clearly had water spilt on it at least once, but Hugo is just about able to read it.

'To Leaf

I'm very sorry to be writing this, but by the time you've read this I'll be gone. I can't confirm when I'll be back, or even if I ever will be. Something's seriously wrong with Hubert. He's been possessed by the dangerous pokémon Oblistrum. I need to get away, because my presence in the village is putting everyone else's lives in danger.

I must plead with you to stay away from Hubert no matter what. He will try to keep to himself. Please allow him to do so. He's a very dangerous man.

I know things are very difficult for you, and I'm really sorry that I won't be there. But you are a strong woman and I believe in you. You can get through this. Stay strong, and give it your all.'

From Hugo.'

"What IS that handwriting? Are you mentally retarded or something? My grandma can write neater than that and she's dead!" Misty remarks.

"Geez, someone's clearly on her period..." Brock jokes in his usual sexist manner, receiving a punch to the face from Misty.

"Ok, I get it." Hugo says as he makes a pathetic attempt to fold up the paper. "So you lived in the village?"

"Well, not exactly..." Leaf explains. "It's a long story..."

* * *

 **(Thirteen years ago, just outside the Village of Giants, Sinnoh)**

Within her secret, underground layer lives a notorious criminal across the pokémon world. Her name is Sarah. A tall woman with long, brown hair. She wears high heels and a bright red dress as if she's about to go out on a date. Her fiery brown eyes have a constant look of evil within.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" Sarah screams in anger. "SHE'S A LITTLE BRAT! LET'S JUST GET RID OF HER!"

"B-but my dear, sh-she's only six years old. She's a little kid. She doesn't know what she's doing." Replies her husband, sounding absolutely terrified and very nervous.

"ARE YOU CHATTING BACK TO ME?!" Sarah sounds even angrier.

"N-n-no, dear. I was merely advising y-you..." He lies.

"Good. Because if you were, that was the last straw."

Just then, they receive a knock on the living room door.

"Empress Sarah, we have an issue." A woman in a uniform tells her. The uniform consists of totally black clothing. A black collared shirt, black trousers and black shoes.

"Right away." Sarah replies. She leaves the room to discuss the matter, closing the door behind her.

Leaf is left alone with her father sat on the sofa together.

"L-leaf, my little princess." He smiles at her. "Such a sweet little girl."

"Daddy, what's Mummy angry about?" Leaf asks.

"Don't worry about that, sweetie. But I need you to make me a promise. And you can never break it, at least until you're big and strong."

"What's that, Daddy?"

"Listen to your mother. No matter what she asks of you, do it. And don't question it. Even if you think it's wrong."

"But what if I don't want to do bad things, Daddy?"

Leaf's father is visibly upset. Tears form in his eyes. He puts his hands on both of his daughter's shoulders.

"Leaf. You mean the world do me. Please do what your mother asks and you will be safe. If you go against her word bad things will happen."

"Okay Daddy, I promise." Leaf replies with a cute little smile.

Leaf's father manages a weak smile. "Ok, darling. Daddy has to go now. He won't be coming back. So it's just going to be you and Mummy from now on."

This statement came out of nowhere, and for little six-year-old Leaf it's the worst news she could ever hear.

"But Daddy – where are you going? Daddy?! DADDY?!"

"I'm sorry sweetie – I'll always love you!" He gives her one last smile as he closes the living room door, which is effectively their front door, and locks it from the outside.

"NOOOO! DADDY! DON'T GO! DADDY! NOOOOOO!" Little Leaf bursts into tears, screaming and shouting. She slams on the wooden door with her little fists, desperate for him to come back.

In the distance, angry shouting can faintly be heard.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE, HAROLD?! I DID NOT GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO-"

"FUCK OFF YOU EVIL COW! I'M SICK TO DEAF OF LIVING THIS WAY! YOU CANNOT ABUSE ME ANY MORE! YOU FORCE ME TO GET MARRIED AND HAVE A CHILD, THEN YOU DECIDE YOU NO LONGER WANT THIS CHILD AND ABUSE HER TOO! YOU'RE SICKENING AND YOUR CRIMINAL ORGANISATION IS ABSOLUTELY SATANIC! I'D RATHER DIE THAN PUT UP WITH THIS FOR ONE MORE DAY!"

"HOW DARE YOU BETRAY ME! GO AND BURN IN HELL! GUARDS, KILL HIM!"

A loud bang can be heard, and then the shouting stops.

Leaf leans against the door, tears streaming down her face.

"Daddy. Come back. Please Daddy."

* * *

 **(Five years later)**

"Oi! Get back here, ya little rascal!"

That phrase is all too familiar to young Leaf, now eleven years of age. For the last five years she's had to survive this way. An angry resident of the village is chasing her as she carries as much food as she can while running away. She's much faster, and soon enough she's lost him. She makes her way into a quiet alleyway, checks that the coast is clear, and pauses to catch her breath.

"Wow, you're fast!" A voice tells her from up above. Leaf glances upward, just in time to see a young boy with a small pokémon jumping off the roof of a one story building. He lands at the end of the narrow alleyway, unintentionally blocking Leaf's way so she can't escape.

"Have you ever tried climbing buildings? It's super fun, although Uncle Eric gets mad if he catches me doing it." The boy tells her happily.

"I-I need to go. Excuse me please." Leaf tells him. She shoulder barges past him and runs away as fast as she can.

"Oh..." Says the young boy. "What's up with her?" He wonders aloud.

"Shiiiinx!" Cries his partner.

* * *

 **(One month later)**

Leaf is once again running away, carrying both food and water scooped up in a small metal cooking pot. She reaches the outskirts of the village, looks around, and sees nobody. She catches her breath, but this time, instead of continuing, she has a breakdown.

Leaf lies on the floor sobbing loudly. She's so busy sobbing that she doesn't notice someone approaching her.

"Shiiiinx!" the pokémon's cry makes her heart jump a thousand miles. She's been caught!

"Please, please let me go! I'm just trying to survive!" She weeps as she grabs onto the person's leg. When she finally looks up to make eye contact, she sees that it's the same young boy as before.

"Hi. Uh… what's wrong?" The boy asks.

"I-I can't talk to you." Leaf tells him.

The boy looks puzzled. "Well I don't see why not. And there doesn't seem to be a single person within a mile of us, so nobody's here to stop you anyway." He gives Leaf a warm smile that reminds her of the kindness she used to receive from her father.

"Me and Shinx got a bit carried a way with our game of tag, hahaha. Shinx is pretty hard to catch since I have to crouch down to tag it." He says, explaining why they're out here alone.

"T-tag? What is that?" Leaf asks curiously.

"What?! You don't know how to play tag?! Really?"

"N-no." Leaf tells him, sitting up. "I don't know much of the outside world."

Hugo looks puzzled. "Is that why you're always stealing people's food?" He asks rather casually.

"You don't understand!" She tells him. I don't want to do it! I hate doing it!"

"But your parents won't buy you enough food, huh? They say your appetite is ridiculous and you're always hungry? Haha." Hugo assumes that Leaf is just like him.

"I wish!" Said Leaf. "My mother says if I want food and drink I have to get it myself."

"REALLY? Well there goes my theory… but that's horrible! I always thought if my theory were correct it'd be funny, but now I just feel sorry for you..."

"Don't feel sorry for me. I have it much better than all those naughty kids in the village."

"What do you mean?!" The boy asks, confused.

"You knows, the ones who get tortured constantly for months if they step out of line."

"What are you talking about?!" The boy asks. "Who told you THAT?!"

"M-my mother." Leaf stammers, realising it's all made up, and feeling ashamed.

"I think your Mother has been telling you things that aren't true. Don't you have any friends where you live?"

Leaf frowns. "Mother says I don't deserve friends..."

The boy look distraught upon learning the details of Leaf's life. But in an instant, he manages to put on a smile.

"Well, I'm Hugo. And this is Shinx. We'll be your friends." He gives her another one of those warm smiles he seems to be really good at.

"My name is Leaf. But I can't have friends. Mother would kill me."

"Your mother monitors you 24/7, huh?"

"Not at all! She checks that I've kept the house tidy and washed up after she and her gang when she eats, but she doesn't like to see my annoying face often. Once or twice a week she walks through the house while I'm cleaning and makes more mess, but doesn't acknowledge me other than to tell me I've missed a spot or threaten what she'll do if she isn't satisfied with my cleaning standards."

"Leaf..." Hugo looks shocked.

"Come here..." He grabs her hand, pulling her to her feet, and wraps his arms around her.

"I'm so sorry..." He says. He looks genuinely concerned about her. Leaf isn't used to this.

"What are you doing?" Leaf asks.

"It's called a hug, silly." He tells her. "Doesn't sound like you get many."

"I-I used to...off my father..." Leaf hugs Hugo back.

After a moment, they separate, and Hugo smiles. "Leaf, I don't want you to steal food any more."

Leaf frowns. "But I have to! It's the only way I can eat!"

Hugo shakes his head. "No. I can sort you out. Don't worry."

Leaf starts to feel anxious. They are stood out in the open. They could easily be seen. "I-I have to go. I can't be seen with this..."

Hugo nods. "I understand. How about we meet back here tomorrow morning? I'll help you"

Leaf nods. "Okay."

* * *

That night, Leaf can't sleep. She's moving around a lot in her uncomfortable bed with an ancient mattress. She isn't sure what to do. What it this Hugo was just pretending? What if he was going to set her up to get caught? But would being caught really be that bad? It couldn't be any worse than the life she's currently living. In the end, she decides to take the risk and meet up with him.

* * *

Leaf arrives in the morning, feeling nervous. She's stood out in an open grassy area with small hills behind her and the back of a few buildings in front. There's no particular reason for anyone to come back here though, unless they just fancy a walk.

She waits and waits, but Hugo doesn't turn up. Disappointed, she turns around, about to head home.

"W-w-w-wait!" Hugo's voice calls as he sprints over.

"S-sorry I'm late..." He apologises, catching his breath. "Hey, what are you so happy about?"

Leaf hadn't noticed the huge smile on her face. She quickly stops smiling, feeling a little embarrassed.

"W-well I thought you weren't coming, but here you are."

"Haha, sorry, Margaret always says I'd be late to my own funeral…. Anyway, here, I brought you something."

Hugo hands Leaf a large supply of food. Easily enough to last her a week. There's also a large quantity of bottled water. Unlike Leaf, Hugo enjoys the luxury of having access to water whenever he wants, but he's obviously put much thought into this gift, acknowledging that she hasn't got such a luxury.

Leaf is speechless. Her mouth is gaping open in shock. This is the first act of kindness she's experienced in her entire life.

"B-but how'd you get this for me?"

"Well… whoever's taking care of us always buys me twice as much food as they buy for my brother. Hubert, because they say my appetite's twice as large… but I think you need this more than me, so I'll have to get by on Hubert's portions from now on."

Despite how this situation has obviously caused a huge inconvenience to Hugo, he looks perfectly happy about it.

Leaf cannot describe how she feels at this point. What is this emotion she is experiencing for the first time? Could it be… happiness?

"I-I-I can't believe it..." tears begin to form in Leaf's eyes as she cannot suppress her feelings any longer. A single drop begins to move down her cheek, until Hugo puts his hand to her face and wipes it off for her using his finger.

"When you told me about your situation yesterday I just felt so awful." He explains.

"Now to see that you've cheered up, I feel so much better."

All through her life, all Leaf has known is anger and fear, but now at last she's met some kind-hearted person to turn things around for her.

"You gonna take that food back to your secret home I'm not allowed to know about?" Hugo asks.

"Y-yes." She replies, wiping away her remaining tears and asserting herself.

"That's great! Enjoy! That's some of my favourite food you've got there! I can give you more next week too! Anyway, maybe I'll see you around town some time? Catch ya later!" Even as a kid, it's the same Hugo, very much relaxed in an emotional situation. He turns around and begins strolling away.

Leaf stares at him for a moment. In her head, she thinks 'that's it? I meet up with him once a week to grab some food and water?'

"W-wait!" She calls out.

Hugo turns around and looks at Leaf.

"C-can you teach me how to play that game some time?" Leaf asks, full of hope.

Hugo looks deep in thought for a moment. "You mean tag? Sure, but that's more of a game you'd play with pokémon. I'm 13 now. I'm a little old to be playing such games with people. Haha. There's lots of other stuff we could do though."

Leaf smiles. "That sounds great. When can I meet you again?"

Hugo smiles back. "Well I don't have much to do all day today. Maybe you could come and meet my brother, Hubert, and my friend Mark?"

Leaf's eyes widen. "M-m-more people?"

Hugo frowns. "Oh come on. Hubert's the nicest guy in the world. He'd be happy to meet you.

Leaf feels incredibly nervous. "Can it just be you and me, please?"

Hugo puts his head in his hands and shakes his head in the negative for a moment, as if to ask himself 'what have I gotten myself into?' Afterwards, he looks back up at Leaf, and his warm smile that she loves has returned.

"Okay. But promise me one day you'll let other people meet you. I don't want to spend my days sneaking around and avoiding people."

"Deal!" Leaf agrees, feeling overjoyed.

* * *

Over the course of the next three months, Hugo and Leaf would secretly meet up so Hugo could give her food and teach her other things. He taught her many things that children would typically do; climbing trees, playing with their pokémon, even playing pranks on each other. She even taught Hugo a few things; mainly how to avoid detection from other people. Their agreement was that Hugo would introduce her to his friends on her 12th birthday. Well that day quickly arrived…

"Are you ready, birthday girl?" Hugo asks, excited about this moment.

"Y-yes…" Is all Leaf can manage. Although she normally feels most relaxed around Hugo, the situation makes her feel horrible.

"I'm gonna be sick..." She says, clutching her stomach.

"No. You'll be fine." Her only friend reassures her, with his usual, contagious smile.

They walk around the corner, with Leaf reluctantly following behind Hugo. His two friends are his identical twin brother, Hubert, and the nerdy kid with glasses who's also always up for a laugh and a bit of banter named Mark.

"So what's the deal, Hugo?" Mark asks. "Why'd you bring us to such a secretive spot? What's the surprise?"

"Guys, I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Leaf." He steps to the side of the alleyway so she can't hide behind him.

Leaf's face is incredibly red, and she doesn't know what to say. "U-uh..hi" She's so nervous it makes her feel sick.

"Hi there!" Mark exclaims. "Are you new to town?" He looks happy, which makes Leaf feel slightly more relaxed.

"Hang on a minute..." begins Hubert. "Aren't you the girl who steals all the food?"

"Waaaaah!" Leaf's biggest fear was recognised with this statement. She's so ashamed, she has to get away. She bursts into a run...or at least attempts to, but Hugo swiftly grabs her arm, preventing her from escaping.

"She used to." Hugo explains. "Only because she had to. It's the only option when your mother doesn't feed you."

Mark and Hubert stare at each other for a while, then a huge smirk appears on their faces. "So that's where you've been going off to lately, huh? You've been meeting up with your girlfriend?" Hubert teases. "Hahaha. It does appear that way." Agrees Mark.

Hugo lets go of Leaf's arm, trusting her not to run off this time. He leans against the brick wall on the side of the alleyway, with his arms folded. Surprisingly, he doesn't seem fazed by his friends teasing him. Can this boy ever feel embarrassed about anything?

"Oh Mary. I love you so much Mary. Marry me Mary." He teases, doing his best impression of Mark's voice. Leaf figures Mary is a girl he has a crush on. Mark's smug smile is removed, and his face turns a little red.

Suddenly, Leaf's best friend sounds more serious. "Guys, don't judge Leaf for something she's forced to do. She's a great person, and deserves friends to hang around with. So that's what we'll be."

The boys frown. "Girls are supposed to hang around with girls, aren't they?" Asks Hubert.

Mark glares at him, making out as though that was a very stupid statement.

"Oh yeah? And you'd love it when they grass up Leaf and she suffers a life in prison?"

"And if either of you two want to say a word I'll kill you, then after your funeral I'll dig up your grave and kill you again!" Hugo smiles after he says this. Boys are weird. Their 'jokes' with each other are brutal!

"Don't you worry about me!" Says Mark. "You know I have the most carefree parents in the world!"

"And I don't even have parents!" Adds Hubert.

From that day forth, Leaf would join Hugo, Hubert and Mark in their crazy games. She was by far the shyest of the group, but she proved to be the best tree climber and fastest runner out of the lot of them. She took a very long time to warm up to Mark and Hubert. At first she'd only really speak to Hugo when the other two couldn't hear, but over time she started to speak a little more openly, although if she had any concerns about anything, Hugo would be the first to hear it, and she valued his input above that of the other two.

On one occasion, while they were playing, someone spotted and recognised Leaf, which resulted in the police searching for her. That was a huge knock to her confidence, but the boys cheered her up, and reassured her that they'd be sure to stay in places outside of public view.

* * *

More time passes, and Leaf reaches 13 years of age. Then one morning…

Leaf is sleeping in her uncomfortable, itchy bed in her tiny bedroom when her bedroom door is banged loudly. "THE MISTRESS ORDERED ME TO INFORM YOU, HER DAUGHTER, THAT SHE WILL NOT BE RETURNING HERE DUE TO WORK COMMITMENTS. GOODBYE." The voice belongs to a member of Sarah's criminal gang. 13 years and Leaf doesn't even know the name of this gang!

But what was that they'd said? Her Mum is gone? Not that she'd seen much of her anyway…

The entrance to Leaf's home has always been hidden. It's at the bottom of a valley between hills. The entrance is a hatch with a padlock on. Leaf's Mum had certainly never bothered to tell her the code, but luckily she still remember it off by heart from when her Dad was around. Their house is tiny, with nothing but Leaf's bedroom, her Mum's room, a bathroom, kitchen, and very small living room.

Leaf has never been allowed to enter her Mum's room, but due to the circumstances she builds up the courage to peek inside… and see that all of her Mum's stuff have gone!

Through the living room door, Mum's gang's secret base is accessible. But the door's always locked, and Leaf has never even been allowed a peek through. She checks the door, and is not surprised to find it still locked. Damn…

* * *

The next time she meets up with the boys, she explains to them that her mother is gone. The boys see this as an exciting opportunity.

"You know what this means?!" Asks Hubert. "Now we can go to your place without fear of your Mum catching us!"

Hugo, taking his usual role of worrying about Leaf, has other concerns. "Are you gonna be alright on your own? Will you get lonely? You don't want us coming and wrecking your house, do you?"

Leaf shrugs with a content smile on her face. "It doesn't change much. I barely saw Mother anyway..."

"You know what this means guys?" Asks Mark.

"What's that? Hugo and Hubert ask together.

"It's a great opportunity for Leaf! Finally, she'll be able to catch her first pokémon, since there's no parents to tell her she can't.

Hugo and Hubert stare blankly at him. "But you don't have one yet either?" Hubert asks.

Mark grins. "That's because Sinnoh's rules say all pokémon trainers must be a minimum age of 17 years, and the three of us aren't even 16 yet. You two don't know how lucky you are. My parents would never bother to take care of a pokémon for me to raise from such a young age! But Leaf can raise it herself. I just know she can..."

"But Leaf isn't even 14 yet, is she? We'd have to carefully select a kid-friendly pokémon." Hubert says, worried about her compatibility with pokémon.

"Guys, haven't you considered ASKING Leaf if she wants a pokémon?" Interrupts Hugo.

"W-well..." Begins Leaf. "It would be nice to have one… for company."

"Don't worry." Hugo tells her, putting his hand on her shoulder. "I'll sort everything for ya. No way Uncle Eric would notice if one or two pokéballs went missing."

Secretly, Hubert does an impression of Hugo and Leaf kissing, which Mark giggles uncontrollably at.

Leaf is thrilled that her friend looks out for her in so many ways, she can't wait to see what Hugo has planned.

The day of her 14th birthday arrives, and Leaf is excitedly leaving her home, where she now lives alone. All of a sudden, a voice beckons her from behind.

"Leaf!" Hugo calls. He runs excitedly towards her, losing his balance and slipping. He slides down the snowy hill, landing in front of Leaf. He gets up and frowns as he feels that his bottom is now very wet. Leaf giggles at him.

Hugo feels so happy to hear Leaf laughing. It's such a rare occurrence. She must be in an exceptionally good mood. "Happy birthday! It's not much, but I got you something." He passes Leaf a pokéball. She has no idea what to expect, but she really wants a flying type. They are fast just like her.

She pops open the ball, and to her delight, the cutest little Starly appears, chirping happily. This just fills Leaf up with happiness.

"Oh, thank you so much. I love it!" She cries, wrapping both arms around her friend in a tight hug, which he returns. They must've been stood like that for longer than she thought because Hugo eventually ducks down, escaping from he arms. When he's out of her clutches he's gasping for oxygen. "Wow...you're strong." He gasps.

"Th-thanks you so much. I always wanted a Starly." Leaf's smile stretches from ear to ear.

"Don't mention it." Pants Hugo with his hands on his knees, still gasping for breath.

* * *

Another year and a half passes by. Leaf brings her three friends around to her house on several occasions, and a couple of times the boys even sleep there to keep her company. They're able to get away with it by telling their carers they've gone camping. Leaf sleeps in her Mum's old bed now. It's so comfortable, and it's even king sized. It's so much easier to sleep nowadays. She's the happiest she's ever been, but she does start to notice one thing. Something seems a little off about her best friend Hugo. Over this period of time, he's gotten worse, and worse, and worse...

"Leaf! I-I brought you your week's food." Hugo arrives in their usual meeting place, looking exhausted and out of breath.

Leaf frowns. "Oh dear. What's wrong?"

"N-nothing. Just a bit tired. That's all."

Leaf stares at her best friend. He seems to have lost a lot of weight lately. He's definitely gotten weaker, too. And this isn't the first time he's been caught short of breath easily.

In that moment, Leaf realises something. It's a realisation that will change her life forever. This entire time, her amazing friend Hugo has helped her out so much in all aspects of life, and what has she done to repay him? Hugo's life would've been so much easier without her, yet he'd gone to extreme efforts to include her in it as much as he could. She feels so selfish…

"Hugo, you're hungry, aren't you?" She asks.

Hugo puts on a fake smile and pretends to laugh. "Haha. Yeah. You know me, always hungry!" His stomach rumbles aggressively as he says this.

Leaf shakes her head. "No. You're starving. Look at you. I've been taking some of your food all this time."

Hugo doesn't know what to say. He just stands there, still struggling to catch his breath.

"You lied to me." She accuses him.

Hugo frowns. "Leaf, I would never lie to my friends-"

"Oh yeah?!" She asks. "Well how come you look so terrible then? You told me you get given extra food, and you were giving the extra food to me."

"Y-yes..." Hugo nods.

"You lied." Leaf says sternly. "You were given the same amount of food as everyone else, and you gave lots of it to me, despite your large appetite."

Hugo seems to barely have the energy to argue. "Leaf, I-"

Leaf feels angry. "Why?! I just want to know why?! Why do all of this?!"

Hugo frowns. "When I saw someone struggling so much just to survive, I-I just had to step in and..."

"AHA!" Calls a voice. "I knew it!" It's Hubert, and he's followed by Mark.

"THIS is the reason why you're so weak and pathetic nowadays, is it brother? How long have you been doing this? Giving your food away?!"

Leaf realises that Hubert and Mark have been eavesdropping this whole time.

"Not long." Hugo lies. "Only recently..."

"He's been doing it for four years now." Leaf admits.

"FOUR YEARS?!" Mark yells angrily. "AND YOU LET HIM?! UNBELIEVABLE!"

"This is not right, brother. You shouldn't be starving yourself just to help her out. Think of yourself for a change mate. Unbelievable! Leaf, I'm sorry, but I think it's best we don't hang around any more." Hubert tells her.

"Don't you ever come near me again..." Mark gives her a cold stare, pointing his index finger directly at her. Leaf is distraught. The two boys storm off, not looking back at Hugo or Leaf.

While Leaf is standing there having a meltdown, Hugo barely has the strength to remain standing.

"Hugo..." She begins. "I think they're right."

Hugo is gasping and wheezing and takes a serious amount of effort to be able to talk.

"Leaf… it's fine… don't worry..." With that, he collapses on the floor, unconscious.

Leaf has never been in a situation quite like this before. She's standing there in front of the person she cares about more than anyone while he's helplessly laid on the floor. There are several bags of food and bottles of water with them.

It's a stupid thing to do. Probably the dumbest thing she's ever done. But she can't help herself. She does what many children might do in this situation. She screams. Screams for help.

"HELP! HELP! AAAAARGH!" She screams, louder than any noise she's ever made.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" "WHERE'S THAT COMING FROM?!" "OVER THIS WAY! I SEE SOMEONE!" Within a very short time, many adult villagers run over to Leaf and Hugo's location. Around six of them arrive at the scene. All of them freeze in their tracks when they see Leaf.

"What's happened here?" One man asks.

"Isn't it obvious?!" A woman yells. "That's that thieving girl! She's knocked that poor buy out so she can steal his food!"

"And she even had the nerve to scream and pretend he was attacking her when he was most likely just protecting himself." Adds a man.

"DISGRACE!" One man yells furiously, as several more villagers arrive, taking their total up to about thirteen.

"I'M GONNA KILL HER! SHE'S LIKE GIRATINA'S CHILD! PURE EVIL!" Half of the mob of villagers chase angrily after Leaf while the other half rush over to Hugo in order to assist him.

Leaf is absolutely terrified. She runs and runs and runs, not once looking back.

* * *

That evening, she's back at home. She escaped the angry mob… barely. She explores her kitchen, and honestly she still has a lot of food that doesn't go out of date any time soon, Hugo usually brought her more than she could eat to be honest…

She makes herself something to eat, sits down at her kitchen table and digs in… or not.

When leaf tries to eat, her mind is consumed with horrible thoughts. Images flash up in her mind. Horrible ones. She sees Hugo, so skinny he's like a skeleton. She sees him collapsed on the floor, unable to move.

"I-I'm not hungry…" She tells herself.

* * *

Later that night, Leaf hears a banging on her bedroom door. She gets up and opens it to find that it's none other than Hugo. He's about as skinny as one could possibly be.

"Hi! I'm glad you're okay-" She begins to say.

"How could you do this to me Leaf?!" He asks. "How could you let me get like this?!"

"I-I-I'm so sorry..." She begs for forgiveness.

"You took ALL the food, Leaf. Look at you, you took ALL of it." Hugo holds out a mirror. Leaf looks in the mirror and sees herself… but she looks so fat! REALLY fat!

"You could've saved some for me! Why did you let me become this way?!" Hugo asks. "Why Leaf? WHY?!"

Leaf suddenly sits up in bed. "Phew… it was all a horrible dream." She tells herself.

She gets up and goes to her mum's old mirror to do her hair, but when she looks into it, she can't help but feel ashamed. "I'm so fat!" She tells herself. "Fat! Fat! Fat! I'm HUGE! It's MY fault what happened to Hugo! GAAH!" Leaf curls up in a ball in the corner of her room, sobbing gently.

* * *

A couple more months pass. Leaf doesn't get to see Hugo at all. She's just turned 16 years old now, and Hugo would be 17. She's managed to survive on just the leftover food Hugo had given her months ago, not that she ate much of it… as for water, she'd been able to just leave out a bunch of bottles whenever it rained. She'd only had Starly as company this entire time, but even Starly serves as a constant reminder of the boy she misses so much.

Leaf is sitting in her room one evening, when an unexpected guest pops in.

"Hugo!" She cries in delight, immediately running over and embracing him in a hug. "Where have you been all this time?" He looks so much healthier, and now that he's becoming a man, Leaf can't help but feel that he's become quite good looking too…

"Sorry I've been gone so long Leaf." Hugo smiles softly. "I was in the hospital for a while, eating plenty and rebuilding my strength. Then by the time I got out I'd turned 17 and it was time for me and Hubert to set off on our journey… I never got a spare moment, so I couldn't come and say goodbye."

"It's ok." She smiles, still hugging him. "I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I'd gotten so fat and greedy, eating all your food."

Hugo gently moves apart from Leaf and glances at her for a moment. "L-leaf. Not one inch of you is fat. You're very thin. I'd almost say too thin."

Leaf glances over to the bedroom mirror. From the angle she's stood at, she looks as fat as ever.

"Something's wrong with Hubert, Leaf. I'm not sure exactly what. But I'm worried..."

Leaf sees that her poor friend is exhausted. He's been working so hard recently…

"Shhh." She puts her index finger over his lips. "You need some rest."

Hugo nods. "You can say that again. Been having trouble sleeping lately though. I'm almost worried Hubert's gonna attack me in my sleep..."

Leaf sees this as the best opportunity she'll get. She smiles. "Well… you'll be much safer sleeping here, right?"

Hugo smiles back, the warm of it making Leaf feel so much happier. "Sure. I guess I can crash on the old mattress one last time."

Leaf pretends to frown, but does her best to look cute while doing so. "Or..."

"Or what?"

"You know, my bed is a double bed. And it's much more comfortable..."

Hugo shakes his head. "Oh no. It's fine. I don't mind-"

Leaf decides it will be so much easier just to be more assertive. She holds his hand. "Come on. You're sleeping in here tonight." She knows she's succeeded when he doesn't argue against it.

Leaf's home hasn't had any heating since the day her Mum left. She's almost always cold at night. Especially considering she's underground within a valley in the already cold area of northern Sinnoh. But tonight, it's the warmest she's ever felt. Her best friend looks so peaceful lying next to her. Gradually, Leaf wiggles a little closer, then a little more, then a little more. Eventually, she's snuggling up with Hugo. He doesn't react or even open his eyes. They simply wrap their arms around each other. With a feeling of complete happiness, Leaf drifts off into a blissful sleep….

* * *

 **(Route 2, Kanto, present day)**

"When I woke up that morning, you were gone, and in your place there was only this note." Leaf explains.

"What a horrible story." Brock is in tears.

"I know, right?" Agrees Dawn, also visibly upset.

"My man Hugo was SO close to getting laid... So close..." Brock sobs some more.

"I kno- hey, wait a minute! THAT'S why you think it was sad!?" Asks Dawn.

"Leaf, I don't know what to say..." Even Hugo is affected by the emotions of this situation.

"If Hugo was seventeen then, and now he's twenty one, you've been searching for him for FOUR YEARS?!" Misty works out.

"Almost." Leaf nods. "Every single day. Without exception. I was so worried about you. I never found out why you left without a goodbye..."

Hugo looks pissed off. "Well one man's got some explaining to do..."

Leaf stares at him with a sad expression in her eyes.

"Leaf, when you say you were searching, where have you been?" Hugo asks.

"Everywhere! I had to sneak onto boats, inside trucks, travel through tunnels, beg people for money..."

"And you did it all alone?" Asks Dawn.

Leaf nods. "Me and Starly, who evolved into Staravia a while ago."

"In four years..." Hugo begins.

"...Just you and Staravia..." Dawn finishes.

Leaf frowns. "It wasn't that bad. Honest. It was worth it, because now I found you! In the end, I got a bit desperate, and even though you said not to in your letter, I hoped that Hubert would be better by now. So I went to see him, and he told me where you'd be! But he also warned me about your memory loss, I truly believed you'd remember me though..."

Hugo feels absolutely devastated. He's never cried in his life, but this is the closest he's ever gotten to doing so.

"Leaf, you know, I can't ever be the person you're looking for… all that stuff you just told us about. I don't remember any of it. Not a single part."

Out of desperation, Leaf grabs both of his hands with hers.

"Please… remember something… I came all this way..."

It's tough, but Hugo forces himself to let go. "But the person you searched for… they don't exist any more. They were lost, and replaced with me..."

Before he can feel any worse, Hugo runs away. He dashes off towards Viridian City, abandoning his friends. He has a bone to pick with someone...

* * *

"Yeah, what's up?" Hubert asks via video call, back in the Viridian City Pokémon Centre.

"You've got some explaining to do pal. Why'd you never mention anything about Leaf? When you got your memory back, I asked if you could tell me EVERYTHING."

Hubert looks embarrassed. "Well, uh… you see..."

"Not acceptable man." Hugo fumes. "You know she's spent the last FOUR YEARS on her own?"

"Look mate, I know how you felt about Leaf, and I just wanted you to be happy for a while. I didn't want you worrying about Leaf for the rest of your life. As far as I knew, she was probably dead."

Hugo stares at the monitor for a minute, deep in thought. "I'm sorry man." He frowns. "I understand. It was wrong of me to speak to you with suck an attitude. Again, I apologise."

Hubert nods. "I understand."

"So what happened the night I ran off then mate?" Hugo asks.

* * *

 **(Four years ago, Village of Giants)**

There's banging on the hatch at the front of Leaf's home in the middle of the night. It's not so loud, but enough to awaken Hugo. He quietly slips out of bed, leaving Leaf alone there. He opens the hatch to find Hubert.

"Leave her alone." Hugo tells him aggressively. "She stays out of this, okay?"

Hubert frowns. "Hugo! I knew you'd be here. I was careful to knock quietly, ensuring I didn't wake up Leaf. But I knew you'd wake up, mr light sleeper."

Then he gets to the serious part. "I can't suppress it much longer. You have to go. You don't know how badly it wants to get you..."

"So this is goodbye bro..." Hugo frowns.

Hubert holds his head in pain. "Hurry, please. Even at this time while it sleeps, I can barely resist… gyah!"

* * *

 **(Viridian City, Present day)**

"...And that's all I remember." Explains Hubert.

Hugo nods. "Thanks a lot. It was worth the long run back to the city to hear this. Now I've got more running to do to get back to the gang."

Hubert frowns. "Brother, what's going on in Kanto?"

"Bad things. But don't worry, we can handle it. See ya!" Hugo ends the call, and immediately dashes out of the Pokémon Centre, eager to get back to his friends.

Meanwhile, Hubert ponders how he can help. "Kanto, huh? Brother, this time, we'll both be the heroes." He stares at a recently purchased plane ticket in his hand.


	5. Chapter 5

Hugo is on his way back to meet up with his friends.

"So what exactly will you do now?" A voice asks.

Hugo turns, and is surprised to see the mysterious old man. He looks about 90. His previous 2 encounters with this guy were… interesting.

"Sorry. I can't afford to be trapped on an island for a month now." Hugo frowns.

The old man chuckles. "Hohoho. You no longer require the training, that's for sure. You're in fine shape, young one."

Hugo doesn't care for making small talk with an elderly man.

"I'm sorry. I need to get back to my friends..."

"So, you're worried about Leaf?" The old man asks. Of course he'd know everything, wouldn't he?

"Worried?! I was always worried someone like this might pop up who I don't remember, but Leaf has lived the most horrible life and I was her only friend… now I don't even remember that. What am I supposed to do? I'd do anything just to remember it all."

"Hmm…" The old man scratches his chin. "Do you worry about the fate of your friend?"

Hugo nods. "Do I ever? All I want is just for everyone to be happy. Dawn was bad enough, but now Leaf as well… I can't cope."

"Hold still..." Offers the old man. "Let me show you the current fate of your companions who worry you so much."

The man walks forwards very slowly, and touches Hugo's shoulder. The instant he does so Hugo begins to see a vision.

First up he sees himself, in a huge stadium. It's clear that he's just lost a battle. He's returning his fainted pokémon, yet he doesn't appear to be particularly upset about it.

The image changes. He sees his friend Dawn. She's also in a big stadium. And just like Hugo, it appears that she's just lost at something. She's congratulating her opponent, but she looks genuinely happy doing so.

Next up is Brock. Brock is sat in a cosy looking living room by a warm looking fire. He has grey hair in this image. This must be far in the distant future. He's sat in a comfortable looking chair beside his wife. For some reason, his arms look very buff for his age. Yet his legs appear very weak, almost as though he hasn't used them in a long time…

Lastly it's Leaf. This is by far the most unsettling vision. First she's seen knelt on the floor, throwing up. She looks very thin and very ill. The next image is of her in hospital. Hugo and others are stood beside her. She has her eyes closed, looks very weak and the montior beside her shows how weak her pulse is…

After that the, the visions end.

"Remember, all fates can be changed!" A voice rings inside Hugo's head.

He looks around. As expected, the old man is nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Hugo continues making his way back to his friends on Route 2. He can't stop thinking about those visions. Why of all people did it have to be Leaf with the worst fate? Hugo was going to prevent that from happening if his life depended on it.

He finds his friends where he left them; atop a hill with a picnic blanket.

As he climbs the hill, he overhears what they're talking about.

C'mon." Says Brock. "How do you know you don't like it if you've never even tried it?"

"I-I don't. I'm just not hungry… okay?" Leaf explains.

Hugo reaches the top of the hill. Brock and Misty are stood up. They both look towards him with a sad expression.

Leaf is on her knees, with her back to Hugo. Dawn is bending down beside her, encouraging her to take a bite of some food.

"Leaf, sweetie, just have one. Please." She pleads.

Leaf shakes her head. "I'm not hungry."

Hugo decides to be as positive as he possibly can.

"Hope you've saved enough for me!" He beams.

Leaf immediately seems to have more energy when she hears that voice. She leaps to her feet, turns around and smiles at Hugo. She has a wonderful smile, it's a smile you could only see from someone who's been your lifelong friend.

"Leaf, I'm very sorry about not remembering. But I hope we can make a fresh start, and be great friends. Why don't you come with us?"

"Yes!" She answers very quickly.

"Awesome!" Hugo says. "I'll tell you all about everything I've done as far back as I can remember. But first, this food's already cold. But I'm starving. Let's eat!"

Hugo begins to indulge in a lovely feast, which makes Brock very happy. Nothing better for a chef than watching someone wolf down all your food.

Leaf takes a look at the food that has been prepared. She glances over to Hugo. When she sees him, an image flashes up in front of her. She sees him collapsed on the floor, skinny and weak. Then she sees an image of herself looking very very fat. It's as though one more mint will cause her to explode…

"I'm not hungry..." She folds her arms. "Besides, I need to diet."

Hugo stops eating and stares at Leaf's anorexic body. 'Remain positive, Hugo. Remain positive.' He tells himself.

"C'mon Leaf. Brock's an awesome chef. You'll love this." He explains to her.

Leaf shakes her head. "You need it much more than I do. I'm greedy. I don't deserve more food."

Everyone else is confused by this statement.

"I don't understand." Says Dawn. "Everyone deserves to be able to eat."

Leaf shakes her head again. "I don't need more food. I've had enough..."

Hugo tries again to lighten up the mood. He's finished wolfing down all that food, so he leaps to his feet. "Thanks a lot Brock. You know, last night, I had a weird dream about all of us." He decides it will be a good way to cheer everyone up.

"Oh really?" Asks Brock. "What sort of dream?"

"Well there were several. The one with you in Brock, you were an old man with a wife."

"Ohoho. Was she hot?"

"Not sure about that mate. She was, like, seventy."

"They can never be too old mate." Brock grins.

"Did I feature in this dream?" Asks Dawn.

"You bet." Answers Hugo. "You were competing in a major contest."

"That's awesome!" Dawn grins.

"I was battling someone on a big stage… but I lost."

"What about me?" Asks Misty. Hugo hadn't had a vision about Misty. Probably because she's not played much of a role in his life so far, so his connection with her isn't strong enough.

"Naw. Even my dreams can't be arsed with you." He jokes, which Brock enjoys. He even hears a faint giggle from Leaf, which feels almost like a relief.

"Hmph." Misty folds her arms and extends her bottom lip.

"Leaf, Mist, maybe you'll appear in one tonight." Hugo tells her. He definitely isn't going to tell the truth about them being visions and not dreams.

"Alright guys." Brock announces. "Our destination is Pewter City. We need to head through Viridian Forest to get there. The man we're seeking is apparently heading there."

* * *

As the gang make their way through the rest of Route 2 and into Viridian Forest, they explain their situation to Leaf. She doesn't seem to care as much as she probably should about the disastrous events that have been unfolding, but she's proably still buzzing over finding Hugo.

Viridian Forest is a large place, and the time is getting late. Their best option is going to be camping out. The gang set up their tents. Misty and Dawn share a tent. Hugo and Brock would usually share the other, but since Leaf is with them now, they have three.

"You're not gonna like what I'm about to say..." Brock whispers to Hugo while they're setting up their tents. Hugo listens, prepared for a serious conversation about something.

"Dibs on my own tent!" Brock laughs.

Hugo puts his hands on his hips. "Woah! You can't kick me out bro!"

Brock chuckles to himself. "Come on, man, you're the one Leaf's been looking for all these years. At least have the decency to share a tent with her. You really want to leave her on her own after all this?"

"Hmph...fine."

Since encountering Leaf here in Kanto, Hugo hasn't had one moment of happiness. He's been too busy worrying about Leaf. She's SO thin, and now he's experienced a horrible vision involving her. What needs to be done to prevent it from becoming a reality?

Hugo taps Leaf on the shoulder. "So...Brock kicked me out."

Leaf can't hide her happiness. "I know what you're gonna ask, and of course you can!"

"Thanks."

Leaf and Hugo enter their tent, and Hugo gets out his especially long sleeping bag. Leaf sets down her normal sized bag, which, to be fair, is almost too short for her.

The two of them lay in silence for a while, neither of them feeling like they'll get an easy night of sleep.

"Leaf… promise me you'll eat properly starting tomorrow." Hugo whispers, breaking the silence.

"I promise. Do you promise me this time you'll still be here in the morning, unlike last time?" She asks.

"I promise."

Leaf trusts her best friend. She knows that when he promises something he is sincere. She immediately feels so much more at ease. She's able to drift off into a much better sleep than she's had in any recent times.

As for Hugo, he can't sleep a wink. He keeps glancing over at his old friend's bony body. Images flash through his mind of what the old man showed him earlier that day. Is there truly anything that can be done to change fate? He tosses and turns for what seems like an age, but eventually manages to fall into a low quality, restless slumber.

* * *

Morning arrives, and the gang have breakfast. Leaf does eat something, which makes everyone else happy, but it really isn't enough. Regardless, they quickly resume their trek through the forest, having luckily kept all three tents bug-free overnight.

"Ugh. This forest is HUGE! Are we ever gonna see the other side?" Dawn complains as the gang make their way out of Viridian Forest.

"Hey, look at that bug." Brock jokes.

"EEEEEK!" Misty screams, hiding behind Dawn.

"Hey, there's no bug, is there?" The ginger haired woman quickly realises.

Dawn shakes her head. "You know he's just winding you up."

Misty puts her hands on her hips. "Don't do that! I don't find it funny!"

"WOAH! A huge Caterpie!" Brock exclaims.

"EEEEEEEK! WHERE?! WHERE?!" Misty screams, until she realises he's joking again. "You two, I swear to Arceus..."

Brock nudges Hugo with his elbow. Hugo turns to see that Brock has found a Weedle and is resting it on his arm.

"Shhhhh." Brock tells him, trying hard not to laugh. Very quickly, he grabs the back of Misty's shirt and drops Weedle down her back.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Misty screams.

"GETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFF!"

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Hugo and Brock are in stitches, rolling around on the floor laughing.

To make the situation even worse for Misty, the tiny little Weedle falls into her skirt.

"GETOFFGETOFFGETOFFGETOFF!" The water gym leader runs around in circles , flailing her arms around.

"S-s-stop! My ribs are hurting!" Says Brock, who still can't stop laughing.

"My eyes are watering!" Adds Hugo, who also can't stop laughing.

"You've taken this too far now!" Dawn stomps her foot. "I'll help you, Mist." Dawn calmly approaches the panicking Misty, who manages to shake Weedle out. The bug lands on her foot, and she swings her leg around in an attempt to get it off. In the process, she accidentally kicks Dawn really hard in the shin. This causes her to stumble backwards and land awkwardly on her foot.

"Gah!" Dawn groans as she collapses to the ground.

"Phew. I think I got it..." Misty is out of breath.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" She screams again, thinking the bug is back, until she realises it's just Brock tapping his fingers on her back to trick her.

"Dawn! Are you alright?!" Asks Leaf.

"N-no need to worry. I'm fine-GAH!" Dawn attempts to stand up, but her foot hurts too much.

"Oh, well done Mist. Now look what you've done." Brock shakes his head and tuts. "There's no need to kick people, is there?"

"YOU WHAT?! IT WAS MY FAULT, WAS IT?!" Misty fumes.

"Yeah, learn to take a joke." chuckles Brock.

"Okay, that's it!" Misty launches herself at Brock, knocking him on to the floor and attempting to beat him up.

"Dawn, can you walk?" Asks Hugo.

"Nnn… no chance." She decides, after trying to stand up again.

"Ow! That hurts! Not the face! Not the face!" Brock yells from behind.

"TAKE THAT YOU DICK! AND THAT! AND THAT!" Misty screams in anger.

"Good job we're not far from Pewter." Hugo decides, concerned about his friend.

"Leaf. Can you take my phone and call an ambulance?" Dawn asks.

Leaf does as she's told, but it won't work.

"No signal." Leaf frowns.

Dawn facepalms. "Doh! Should've known in this forest!"

Brock and Misty are back with them, on their feet, but Brock is covered in bruises and has a large bump on his forehead that wasn't there a moment ago.

"S-so how are we gonna get Dawn through the r-rest of the f-forest?" Brock stutters, gritting his teeth through the pain.

Everyone glares at Hugo.

"What?!" He asks.

"Well you're the giant!" Says Misty. "Put those muscles to use!"

* * *

A little later, the gang are almost out of the forest. Brock leads the way for everyone to follow, followed by Misty and Leaf, then lagging behind is Hugo, tasked with carrying Dawn.

"H-have you considered dieting?" He asks her, as the pain in his arms gets worse and worse.

"It's your fault, you know? I'd be able to walk if you hadn't teased Misty like that."

"I-i-it was Brock, not m-me!" He manages.

"But you encouraged him..." Dawn rolls her eyes.

"O-oh no. I'm gonna drop you." He pretends.

"Don't you dare!"

"W-what you g-gonna d-do if I do? Chase after me?"

"Did I ever tell you how much I hate you?"

"B-b-e careful. You're the one being c-c-carried."

"Your pain is so satisfying for me." Dawn smiles.

"W-why can't you j-just ride on Tyranitar's shoulder or s-something?" Hugo complains.

"Because I might fall, and its arms aren't long enough for it to catch me..."

"Wuss..." He mutters under his breath.

* * *

Finally, the gang emerge from the Forest, and the vast city of Pewter stands before their very eyes.

Brock surges ahead of them, powering around a corner, excited to see his home City. Suddenly, he freezes in his tracks. "I-impossible..." He stutters. "WHAT'S GOING ON?!" He bolts ahead.

Behind him, Hugo wonders what could have happened. "Mist. Leaf. Can you find out what's going on?"

"Sure. Come on Leaf." Misty grabs Leaf's arm and runs ahead.

Meanwhile, Hugo attempts to quicken his pace, but Dawn is just too heavy.

"Um… what do you think has happened?" Dawn asks, still having to hold onto Hugo while he carries her like a bride.

"W-well I could answer that, but unfortunately I'm s-stuck back here c-carrying y-your fat arse."

"Hey!" Dawn is offended.

"Let's go. Come on." Hugo musters all of his strength to burst into a jog, which is very tiring when you've been holding a full grown adult woman for almost an hour.

They eventually make around the corner and are greeted by a horrific sight. Pewter City has been set aflame!

"Waaah! What's going on?!" Asks Dawn.

"No idea, but look." Just in front of them are Misty and Leaf sat at a bench. Misty appears to be comforting Leaf. When Hugo and Dawn arrive, Misty explains.

"Leaf's weak, Hugo. She can't go on. She needs to go to the Hospital."

Hugo nods. He carefully places Dawn on the bench beside Misty.

"Mist, can you watch those two?" Hugo asks. She nods.

"Awesome." Hugo sprints off down the path as fast as he can. He makes it into the city, where many buildings are on fire. Alarms can be heard as well as the sound of panicking citizens running for their lives. There is smoke everywhere.

"BROCK! BROCK! WHERE ARE YOU BROCK?!" Hugo calls desperately for his friend.

The smoke is getting to Hugo, and he begins to do a lot of coughing and spluttering.

"Man, this is horrible." He tells himself.

Hugo doesn't know Pewter City, so it's by luck that he finds himself approaching the gym, which seems to be one of few undamaged buildings.

Hugo can see something in the distance, just outside the gym's entrance. There's an Onix. No mistaking a pokémon of that size. The rock type is lying on the ground. Next to it is a Snorlax. Its trainer appears to be stood right next to Onix. Then Hugo realises something. The man with the Snorlax… that's the same man who killed Hugo's Drifblim and Hippowdon!

"That son of a..." Hugo mutters as he runs as fast as he can. He's too late though – the man hits Onix with the same walking stick type weapon from before, and Onix is sucked in. Hugo gets closer, and can make out a puddle of blood on the grass. He sees now that the man's opposition was none other than Brock. He's now close enough to hear what's going on. "YOU ARSEHOLE! I'LL KILL YOU!" Brock screams in anger. He charges towards the man, who calmly pulls something out of his pocket.

BANG! The sound of gunfire goes off. Brock collapses to the ground immediately.

"BROCK! BROCK!" Hugo screams. The man aims his gun towards Brock again.

Hugo just barely gets close enough. He launches a pokéball as far as he can, and it bounces just in front of Brock.

"RAAAAAAAA!" Hugo's Tyranitar cries upon appearing from a flash of red energy given out by the pokéball.

BANG! The man fires his bullet that was intended for Brock. Fortunately, though, Tyranitar has appeared just in time. The bullet hits Tyranitar just above its foot, and the rock and dark type experiences minor discomfort.

"GET AWAY FROM MY FRIEND! TYRANITAR USE STONE EDGE!" Hugo shouts as he closes in on this man.

The man, eager to get away, calmly summons a pokémon. "Alakazam, teleport." He orders. In a flash, he's gone, and stone edge misses.

"Brock!" Hugo instantly turns his attention to his fallen friend.

"Please tell me you're okay man?" Brock is very obviously not okay.

"GAH! M-my back… my poor back..." He groans.

"Oh no! This can't be good. Let's get you to the hospital man." Once again, Hugo is on carrying duty, but this time it's for a much more serious reason…

* * *

Hugo is anxiously pacing around Pewter City Hospital's waiting room. It had been absolute chaos earlier. The fire service took a long time to put out all the fires. Luckily, Misty somewhat heroically made a huge contribution to the cause with her team of water types. Hugo, like many other trainers in Pewter City that day, owns only one water type, and since its only known water type move is surf, which would effectively mean riding a small wave into a gigantic fire and killing yourself, he'd been totally useless to help.

The only other person in the waiting room is Misty. Dawn's Piplup is also there, playing around, looking proud of the contribution it made to putting out that fire.

Misty is standing at the facility that allows for video calls. She won't tell Hugo who she's contacting, but he's about to find out anyway.

"Hi Mist. What's up?" "Pikachu Pi."

Hugo recognises that voice anywhere. He dashes over to Misty's side, to see that it is indeed Ash, wearing his Kalos outfit, and with Pikachu on his shoulder.

"Oh hi there Hugo. Didn't know you guys had met. So what was the important thing you needed to tell me?"

Misty looks delighted to see her old friend. "Hi Ash. Just wanted to tell you about what's going on in Kanto at the moment."

Ash frowns. "Huh? Are you guys in Pewter City?"

"Yes, actually." Misty explains. "You see, we're on somewhat of a journey."

Ash's frown turns upside down. "Aw sweet. Who else is there with you?"

"Well there's Brock, Dawn, and Hugo's friend Leaf."

"Nice!" Says Ash. "I'd love to meet your new friend. Are they with you now?"

"Well…" Misty smiles sheepishly.

"She's in hospital!" Hugo explains.

"Oh dear." Ash frowns again. "What about Dawn? Where's she?"

"In hospital." Hugo answers.

"Wow! What about Brock?"

"...In hospital." Hugo answers again.

"All three of them?!" Ash sounds weirdly calm. "What happened? They all stubbed their toes?"

"Well, you see..." Begins Misty. "There's a lot of bad guys about, and Pewter City was attacked, and-"

"Brock got shot." Hugo interrupts.

"DON'T TELL HIM THAT, YOU BUFFOON-" Misty fumes.

"Shot? Oh, you mean, like he was in a photoshoot?"

Misty and Hugo both facepalm at the same time.

"Sure pal. That's exactly what I meant." Hugo grins.

"So what are they all doing in hospital?" Ash asks.

"Oh, well you see, Dawn hurt her foot a little..." Misty says truthfully.

"Ah, so Brock and Leaf are staying with her while they take care of her?"

"Sure. Let's go with that." Misty sighs a sigh of relief.

"Great! Well I hope you guys have fun on your journey! I'm having a blast here in Kalos. I've made some great new friends. I'd like you to meet Clemont and Bonnie!"

Misty and Hugo smile at their friend's new friends.

"Pleased to meet you, Clemont." They say, accidentally speaking in-sync.

"No no. The pleasure is all mine." Replies Clemont. "Ash truly is an incredible trainer, and I'm sure his friends are just as amazing!"

"Ooh. Are you two a couple?" Bonnie asks in the typical fashion of a little kid.

Hugo and Misty glare at each other.

"I think I'm gonna be sick..." Says Misty, pretending to gag.

"Anyway, this is my new friend Serena." Ash explains. A female's face pops onto the screen.

"Hi there." Serena says in a sweet, charming voice.

"Hi there, Serena. Hope you're taking good care of Ash." Hugo smiles.

Serena giggles. "Oh, don't worry. I'm taking VERY good care of him."

"Hey! I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself!" Ash answers back, while Hugo and Serena just laugh. Hugo notices that Misty has gone quiet. She's staring at Serena.

"MISTY WATERFLOWER PLEASE COME TO THE RECEPTION AREA." A voice announces.

"We have to go. I'll explain things later." Misty frowns. She sounds like she's in a very bad mood.

"Have fun!" Ash replies.

"Bon voyage!" Clemont chimes in.

"It was lovely meeting the two of you." Serena beams. Hugo cuts off the call.

Misty is still staring at the screen. Her face is expressionless and her breathing sounds heavy.

"Someone's jealous." Hugo laughs.

"No I'm not. But something doesn't seem right about that Serena-"

"Yeah, she's stealing your man!" Hugo laughs, receiving a back-hand to the face.

* * *

The pair arrive at the reception area, and are greeted by Dawn. She now has a pair of crutches to help her walk, along with a cast on her foot.

Dawn puts on a smile. "Apparently I have to use these for a few days, but it should heal in no time."

"That's good to know." Says Misty. "But what about the others?"

Dawn frowns. "Come and see for yourself."

They make their way upstairs, having to use the lift because of Dawn's injury. They arrive at the first floor, and speak to a member of staff.

"Unfortunately, Mr Harrison has suffered some serious damage to his spine. I'm afraid he'll never walk again." They explain.

Hugo, Misty and Dawn can't believe this.

"Brock, no… can we go and see him?" Hugo asks.

The nurse shakes their head. "I'm sorry. He's currently undergoing some vital surgery. We need to get that bullet out of him before it causes further damage."

"And what about Leaf?" Hugo asks. "Is she okay?"

"She's right through here, sir."

They are showed into a room with a series of beds.

"I'm afraid your friend collapsed from exhaustion." The nurse explains as they make their way over.

"Did you get her to eat anything?" Asks Dawn.

The nurse shakes their head.

"She refused everything. I hope you are aware of the seriousness of this condition. If not treated effectively, it could be fatal."

The nurse opens some curtains, to reveal a weak looking Leaf laid in the hopsital bed. Her eyes light up when she sees her friends.

"H-hi e-everyone." She manages a weak smile.

Dawn, Misty and Hugo pretend to be pleased to see her.

"Hi there." Says Dawn softly. "You should see what happened to my foot… haha."

"Wow." Gasps Leaf. "I bet that hurts!"

Dawn shakes her head. "No. It's not too bad. I should be fine in a couple of days."

While this conversation is going on, a hand grabs Hugo's shoulder. "Sir, a word please."

One of the caretakers takes Hugo out of the room to speak with him.

"How long has she been like this?" They ask.

Hugo shakes his head. "We don't know, but she's been on her own for four years."

"FOUR YEARS?!" The caretaker exclaims with surprise.

"Why, it's a miracle that she's even alive! What caused her to pass out, do you know?"

"She tried to run. I guess she doesn't have the strength for it? Will you be able to treat her here?"

The caretaker frowns. They look genuinely gutted.

"Wh-what's wrong?!" Hugo asks, uncharacteristically of him, he's getting worried.

"Unfortunately, the treatment required would take a long time..."

"What do you mean 'would'?"

"I'm very sorry about this, but this type of treatment is not available under Kanto's free health care scheme. I'm afraid you'll have to pay for it..."

"Name the price, we'll pay it somehow."

"Twenty thousand pokédollars."

"WHAT?!"

"Based off of your reaction, am I correct in guessing that you cannot afford this, sir?"

Hugo frowns "There has to be a cheaper treatment, surely."

The caretaker frowns and shakes their head. "Unfortunately, this is the cheapest price that could possibly be offered."

Hugo kneels down and punches the floor. "DAMN IT!"

Suddenly, an idea springs to mind. "I'll scrape together that money. It might take some time though."

The caretaker frowns even more. "I'm very sorry to tell you this, sir, but if you cannot pay today we will have to discharge your friend from the hospital tonight."

"They're taking the piss with these rules!" Hugo fumes. He reluctantly makes his way back into the hospital room, where the girls are chatting.

"We have to go." He tells them. "Leaf, can you walk ok?"

Leaf springs to her feet. "Of course. I'm fine. Don't know what the fuss is about..."

The four of them make their way out of the hospital. Leaf is helping Dawn down the stairs, while Hugo and Misty talk up ahead.

"So, Mist, we need twenty thousand pokédollars."

Misty frowns "Really? Oh no!"

"You can afford that, right, with all the money your gym makes?"

Misty looks frustrated. "Don't be an idiot! It costs nothing to challenge a gym!"

Hugo facepalms. "D'oh! That idea didn't work!"

"So they can't treat her?" Misty asks.

"Nope. Looks like she's stuck with us."

"Then why don't we cheer everyone up? We have some time to kill while we wait for Brock's treatment to end so we can go and see him."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Well..." Misty has a smug grin on her face.

* * *

Hugo is looking miserable. He's standing outside a shop in Pewter shopping district. He's holding about eight different bags from different shops, all of which are heavy.

Just then, Misty and Leaf walk out of the shop with two more shopping bags. Dawn is beside them on her crutches. All three are laughing and look very happy.

"Thanks for bringing me shopping." Leaf smiles. "It's something I've never had the chance to do before."

Both of Hugo's hands are full, so Misty hangs the bags off his fingers, sticking out her tongue.

"Serves you right for being a dick."

"I can't help it if Brock's jokes are funny!"

"Shut up, bag holder." Misty has no sympathy at all.

With that, the girls make their way into another shop.

"I never realised how badly I need Brock in my life." Hugo groans.

* * *

It's getting late, and the group are back in the pokémon centre. The girls are sat in the main lobby, giggling about something. An exhausted Hugo makes his way in.

"I-I carried all seventeen bags up to your room on the top floor, Mist. Funny how that lift broke just before I used it, huh?"

Misty smiles arrogantly. "Oh, the lift's not broken. I lied. I just enjoy watching you suffer."

Leaf and Dawn giggle uncontrollably.

"Ugh… did you at least book me a room too?"

Misty pretends to act surprised.

"Oh, I knew I was forgetting something." She lies. "Too bad. I only booked one room with three single beds."

"But the booking counter is closed now!"

"Too bad." Misty sticks out her tongue again.

"Man, I feel sorry for Ash, can't believe he's gonna be stuck with you for the rest of his life!"

Misty's smile is wiped off her face, and she gives him a glare.

"Oh, wait, never mind. I forgot that girl stole him from you. What was her name again?"

Misty pounces on top on Hugo. "One more word about Ash and I swear I cut your throat."

"WOAH!" Hugo admits defeat.

"Well, time for bed..." Dawn decides.

"Yeah, let's get rid of this idiot." Misty adds.

The three girls begin to leave. Leaf looks back and gives Hugo a weak smile. Hopefully spending some time with Misty and Dawn will give her a much needed confidence boost.

A small part of Hugo is offended that neither Dawn nor Leaf spoke up against Misty and gave him some money to buy his own room. They were sharing their money anyway. Some of it's his, he just lets Dawn hold it because of his tendency to lose everything...

"Well, it's not like I need sleep!" Hugo sarcastically announces. "Might as well enjoy the nightlife of Pewter!"

Once the others are gone, Hugo makes his way outside, eager for a nice stroll.

"Worried about the future, I see."

Hugo turns around, and is not surprised when he sees the old man he's encountered twice before.

"Let me guess. You're here to cast some magical spell to make everything more confusing?"

The man looks about 80 years of age. Hugo could swear he's less wrinkly than last time though…

"I have something to show you. Come." The man walks inside the Pokémon Centre that Hugo just left. Hugo reluctantly follows him in, and for some reason, it's pitch black in there!

"Hello? Hello?" Hugo asks, wondering where the old man is. Suddenly, the lights flicker on! The Pokémon Centre is totally deserted.

"Huh. Weird. Did he go back outside?" Hugo asks himself.

He makes his way to the door, and it immediately becomes apparent that the area outside the building is not the same. It's bright, sunny and hot!

The old man is sat on a bench admiring the beachside view. He turns to greet Hugo with a beaming smile. "Alola young Hugo! Come, take a seat!" He pats the empty spot on the bench beside him, and Hugo sits down with him.

"It's hot here. Where are we?"

This is a far off region known as Alola." The old man explains.

"Ah! I've heard of this place before. Misty came here on holiday, apparently. They have different forms of pokémon I know well, such as a different Meowth?"

"You are not as dumb as you look, young man."

"Oy!"

The old man chuckles. "Look! Here comes someone you might recognise."

"I-is that..."

Sure enough, it's someone Hugo recognises very well.

"Ash!" Hugo calls out. "What's he doing in Alola?"

Ash is running down the path next to the beach where Hugo and the old man are sat at a bench. His trusty Pikachu is running with him. It hasn't changed one bit. The same can't be said for Ash though.

"He looks… younger..."

A bunch of other people are running alongside Ash. They all look like members of a camera crew.

"Why does Ash look so weird? And why are people filming him?"

One of the people chasing Ash doesn't have a camera, but instead holds a portable speaker. Music begins to blurt out.

" **I could get used to this heat on my skin!"**

" **I can feel everyday I'm a little bit stronger.** **I only wish each day were longer.** **"**

"What the hell?!" Hugo asks, looking around for the source of the music.

" **Yeah! We're having fun in the sun! Week after week it's just like we're on vacation!"**

"PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON DID YOU PUT SOMETHING IN MY DRINK?!"

Hugo has to shout to hear himself over the loud music.

By this point, Ash is dancing around with a bunch of other goofy looking kids. Three girls with very colourful hair, a fat chubby kid and some boy who doesn't wear a shirt.

"I gotta get outta here!" Hugo sprints down the path in the opposite direction. He follows the path onto the beach, and by this point he isn't surprised to see the old man sunbathing. He cringes at the sight of his wrinkly body.

"Ah, there you are. So you understand where we are now?" The old man asks.

"Somewhere I never want to see again." Hugo shudders again.

"You must be aware that there are many different versions of reality. In this reality, your friend is the star of the children's cartoon of pokémon. He is eternally stuck at the age of 10."

"That sounds horrible!" Hugo exclaims.

"The show has been going on for twenty years now." The old man continues. "He's not a single day older."

"Who would watch that?" Asks Hugo.

"It's viewed around the world, dubbed in many languages."

"Please take me back to Pewter." Hugo asks.

"Before you do, you must see what I am trying to teach."

"We might be here a while then..." Hugo frowns.

"You see, any reality is possible. That goes the same way for yours. Anything is possible, no matter how unlikely it seems."

Hugo thinks about this for a moment. "Okay, I think I get it. Thanks."

"Now it's home time. Hooray!" The old man cheers. "Stare into my moustache."

"Wait, since when did you have a moustache?!"

"Since ten seconds ago. You are not very observant. I got one around the same time we arrived back in Pewter."

"Wait, wh-" Hugo looks around and is amazed to see that he is back in Pewter City and it appears to be just before sunrise.

"How do you do th-" He begins to ask the old man, but turns around to see that he is now gone.

"Of course… man, my life is weird..." Hugo shrugs it off and decides to begin his morning workout, eager to see what this day has in-store.


	6. Chapter 6

"Good morning, Officer Jenny." Hugo says as he enters the Pewter City Police Station.

"I was told that the investigation into why Pewter was attacked should have been completed by this morning."

This particular Officer Jenny is obviously coming towards the end of her shift, and is fed up.

"It's 5.30 in the morning. The detective reports aren't due back until noon." The officer explains with a hint of boredom apparent in her tone of voice. "What are you even doing up at this hour?"

"Well my best friend has been told he may never walk again, all as a result of these attacks, so I'm very eager to learn the reason behind them. As if I was gonna be able to sleep at a time like this."

The bored officer rolls her eyes. Just then, the doors at the building's entrance swing open.

"EUREKA! I think I've got it!" A strange looking man exclaims. He wears a suit and tie with a brown unbuttoned coat.

The man wonders over to Hugo.

"The name is Looker. I am a member of the International Police." He announces, shaking his hand.

"This villain seems to be after something." He begins to explain.

"After what? Blood? Death?" Asks Jenny.

"Based on our CCTV footage of this man, he carries a very unusual weapon. At a first glance, it appears to be an ordinary walking stick. However, upon closer inspection you can see that is not the case. It is actually some sort of contraption which absorbs the energy of pokémon which have been defeated in battle, similarly to a pokéball. However, unlike the notorious spherical contraption, this device serves a devious purpose. Not all of a pokémon's energy is the same. There are parts of a pokémon's energy that serve the purpose of powering it up. Essentially, each pokémon possesses body parts that function to enable them to learn certain moves. It is the energy from these bodily functions that the device desires. The rest of the energy from a pokémon serves the purpose of keeping it alive; keeping its heart pumping and its blood flowing. This energy is 'useless' for this device, hence why it rejects said energy, which essentially kills the pokémon. All that would be left of it is a puddle of blood." Looker looks pleased with himself to have discovered all of this overnight.

"Incredible!" Hugo gawks, at a loss for words.

Officer Jenny still seems bored.

"Big whoop! Do you actually know HOW he got this weapon?" She rests her elbow on her desk and her chin on her hand.

Looker shakes his head. "Negative. We have no leads whatsoever. However, it is clear that the man intends to power up this device. It is unknown what powering it up will do, but it cannot be good for the rest of us."

"How did you figure all that out in one night?" Hugo asks. "The International Police are amazing!"

Looker wears a smug grin on his face.

"Ugh. Don't feed his ego. If it gets any bigger it won't fit in this building." Jenny says sarcastically, sounding as bored as ever.

"I have to go and tell my friends about this. Thanks Looker and Jenny!" With that, Hugo takes off racing towards the pokémon centre.

* * *

Leaf is feeling good. In fact, she feels great! She's never had a proper friend before, other than Hugo when she was a child. Now, all of a sudden, after spending so long travelling around on her own, she has two great friends! Misty and Dawn. Both of them are so interesting. The girls had stayed up late having a great time in their room. Now, this morning, the trio are making their way into the Pokémon Centre's lobby. Dawn is still on her crutches with the cast on her foot.

"Finally. Good evening." Hugo jokes as he's sat at a table wolfing down some eggs and Tauros bacon.

"Ew! How can you eat a Tauros? The poor thing!" Misty snarls, not even bothering to explain why they're up so late.

"It's already been killed, sheesh, it's more respectful to eat it than let it get thrown away-"

Dawn giggles. "I bet that's your third breakfast?"

Hugo shakes his head while his mouth is full. "Nu-uh. First meal of the day."

"Are you kidding mister?" A kid shouts over, from the table they're sat at with their family. "That's your fifth plate!"

Misty and Dawn glare at him. "What did I tell you about wasting all our money on food?! In fact, wait a minute, how did you even get your hands on the money?!" Misty is not happy.

"Gee, thanks kid." Hugo groans, giving the kid an evil stare while the kid simply laughs.

"The money was in our room-"

"Maybe Rotom snuck in this morning and took it for me..."

"WHAT?!"

"Hey, I get why there are so many criminals. When you own a ghost pokémon, stealing would be so easy… you locked the door? Fine, I'll just have a pokémon phase through it!"

"Have you at least been to see Brock this morning?"

Hugo finishes his meal and stands up quickly. "Oh crap. Brock!" He dashes off out of the building, eager to see his friend. Misty dashes off after him, yelling angrily as usual. "DO YOU ONLY THINK ABOUT FOOD? YOUR FRIEND IS HURT AND YOU STILL THINK IT'S MORE IMPORTANT TO WASTE OUR MONEY ON FIVE BREAKFASTS..."

Leaf begins to follow, until she is stopped. Dawn grabs her, interlocking their arms.

"Maybe me and you shouldn't go. It's quite a long walk to the hospital, and we're in no fit state to be walking far. Let's grab some breakfast." Dawn smiles.

The pair make their way over to the food counter. "The prices are much better here than in Sinnoh. Get whatever you want Leaf, don't worry about the price." Dawn gestures towards the counter, her warm smile ever-present on her pale face. She reminds Leaf of Hugo so much.

"I-I'm not hungry." Leaf frowns.

Dawn tries again. "Come on Leaf, you haven't eaten much since we've met, I'm sure you could use a nice bit of Miltank meat?"

Leaf shakes her head. "No thank you."

Dawn frowns. "Are you sure? We don't mind spending a bit of money. Look how much Hugo ate."

"I need to go on a diet..." Leaf explains.

Dawn glares at Leaf's worryingly skinny body. Her ribs are very visible.

"Hugo has to eat so much to make up for all the time I starved him..." She mumbles.

"What was that?" Dawn asks, not quite hearing her fully.

"I'm greedy." Leaf mumbles. "I've had enough to eat. I don't need more. I'm already fat." Her voice grows quieter and quieter.

Dawn is struggling to understand Leaf, but she catches the last part.

"Fat? Leaf, have you looked in a mirror? You're the complete opposite of fat!"

Leaf frowns. "Thanks Dawn, but I know you're only saying that to make me feel better."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the hospital, Hugo and Misty arrive at Brock's bed.

"Brock! I'm so sorry man! If only I'd been a little bit faster, I could've been there for you." Hugo apologises.

Brock shakes his head weakly. "You are the last person who should apologise, Hugo. You saved my life. It is I who should be apologising to you for abandoning the group in the heat of the moment. I only wish I could've done more for Onix..."

Hugo frowns. "Onix was a great partner, huh?"

Brock has a distant look in his eyes. "It's such a shame. I was apart from it for so long while I made my way through Hoenn and Sinnoh, then I finally brought it with me again, now this happens… at least it will be up in rock type heaven. Onix. It was big, long, always hard, just like my..."

"WOAH! We get it. Geez. Some people never change, even after life changing experiences." Interrupts Misty.

To the surprise of Hugo and Misty, Brock suddenly seems happy. He bursts into laughter.

"Wh-what's funny?" They both ask, accidentally in-sync.

"I guess I'm a lucky guy." He chuckles.

"Lucky?!" Exclaims Misty. "How could you possibly be-"

"Well, my dick still functions properly. And look who's caring for me here."

"Is everything alright over here?" Right on cue, one of the Nurse Joy's pokes her head around the corner.

"Yes, we're fine. Mighty fine." Brock grins. Joy continues her walk through the corridoor.

"I think I'll enjoy my time here while I rest and recover." Brock explains to his friends. "Maybe soon I can rejoin you guys on your journey?"

"I'm already looking forward to it!" Hugo smiles.

"I'm not..." Misty groans, which gets a laugh from the boys.

Just then, on the TV in Brock's room, an uninteresting programme about Meowths is interrupted by a news bulletin.

"This just in!" Begins the reporter.

"Mount Moon has apparently been taken over by the criminal organisation Team Rocket. Several travellers have been taken hostage and anyone who attempts to enter the cave, which connects Pewter City to Cerulean City, is being forced to turn back. The few who've tried to force their way through have reportedly themselves been taken hostage. The police are already doing their best to resolve the issue..."

"Bah!" Brock exclaims. "If I weren't stuck in a hospital bed I'd head over there and teach them a lesson myself!"

"We all know what the police are like in Kanto… they won't do a thing." Complains Misty.

"Ugh…" Groans Hugo. "Don't think about following, Mist. You'll only slow me down."

"See you soon Brock!" Hugo waves goodbye as he opens the hospital window and dives out. Before he hits the ground he launches a pokéball and summons Kabutops. The shellfish pokemon immediately knows what to do and Hugo lands in the wave summoned by its surf attack.

"He could've just taken the stairs..." Says Misty.

"That guy… is awesome." Brock grins.

* * *

If there's one thing Hugo himself will tell you he's good at, it's running. He is fast. With no time to waste, he maintains a steady pace faster than many people can sprint all the way through Pewter City to the route 3 exit. Route 3 is a decent sized route, but at the pace he travels at, it's going by very fast. Until…

'Oh no, that tree looks familiar. Do I go left or right here? Uh oh...' Hugo thinks to himself as he realises he's totally lost.

He's so lost in thought that he isn't looking where he's going, and trips over the feet of a much smaller person.

"Woah, sorry there." The youngster apologises.

"No no, it's all my fault. Say, I don't suppose you could direct me to Mount Moon, could you pal?"

"Well that's a coincidence! Just five minutes ago some kid with green hair who looked in just as much of a rush as you asked me the same question. Anyway, you just need to take your next left, then a sharp right, then carry on up the hill and from there you can see the entrance."

"Cheers pal." Hugo thanks him.

"Hey, anything for a fellow shorts wearer. I like shorts. They're comfy and easy to wear." The youngster explains.

As fast as he can, Hugo follows the youngster's direction. Sure enough, he reaches the top of a hill and can see the entrance to Mount Moon. There are two aggressive looking Team Rocket grunts guarding the entrance, and a small child appears to be opposing them.

"Raticate, hyper fang!"

"Ralts, no!"

Raticate easily defeats Ralts, much to the dismay of the child.

"Now get lost kid or you're gonna get hurt!" Threatens the grunt.

'Oh wow, is that...' Hugo wonders. 'It is!' "WALLY!" He yells as he sprints over.

"H-Hugo!" Wally exclaims.

"What are you doing out here all on your own?" Hugo asks.

"W-well...you see… I wanted to prove I could stop the bad guys all by myself!"

Hugo's eyes widen. "Dude, that's crazy! You're just a kid!"

"Imagine that!" One of the grunts laughs. "Some kid taking down Team Rocket all on their own."

"Sounds like the sort of thing that would happen in some late 90's gameboy game..." Adds the other grunt.

"Wally, I'm sorry, let the adults handle this. You keep training your Ralts. You'll get there one day." Hugo explains as he puts himself in-between Wally and the grunts.

"I'll prove you all wrong!" Wally is mad. "I will keep on training, and one day you'll all see the result of my efforts!" Wally runs off back in the direction of Pewter.

"You shouldn't have come here pal!" Warns Grunt #1.

"Prepare for an arse whooping!" Claims Grunt #2. "Golbat go!"

"Shinx, burn them!" Hugo throws out his pokéball, summoning Shinx a few feet above the ground. Before Shinx's feet even hit the floor, it has launched a powerful flamethrower attack. This easily knocks out the grunt's pokémon.

"I-impossible! It can't even learn that move! Are you some sort of freak of nature?!" Exclaims grunt #1.

"Well, my Shinx had its memory distorted a while back, so now it knows some crazy moves."

"NOT SO FAST!" A female grunt emerges from within the cave. She's pointing a pistol straight at Hugo and Shinx.

"Oh please." Hugo sighs. Before the grunt has any time to react, he returns Shinx to its pokéball and simultaneously drops another on the floor.

"Fine then. Die." The female grunt shoots. Unfortunately for her, she's too late. By the time she's pulled the trigger, Tyranitar is already in front of Hugo. The giant rock type glares down at her as the bullet bounces off its upper leg.

"I think you better run now!" Hugo warns them from behind his Tyranitar.

"SHIIIIIIIIIIT!" The grunts exclaim as they run for their lives. Tyranitar smashes rocks as it makes the entrance large enough to fit through.

Hugo strolls through Mount Moon casually. There are many Rocket Grunts hanging around within, but as soon as they see Tyranitar they run for it.

"SURPRISE, FOOL!" Out of nowhere, another Rocket grunt jumps out from their hiding place with a gun pointed at Hugo. The Sinnoh man had seen this coming though, and is one step ahead. Tyranitar is guarding Hugo's left side while Kabutops is guarding his right. The rock and water type stands between Hugo and the grunt. They attempt a shot but it bounces of Kabutops's head. A second bullet looks more accurate but Kabutops blocks it with its long claws.

"Damn it! You know how difficult ammunition is to get ahold of?"

"Yeah, you're in trouble off your boss for wasting two bullets, pal." Hugo grins. "Can someone take me to your leader or what?"

"No need. I'm right here." Hugo turns around to see that Giovanni is standing in front of him, looking very calm. Tryanitar and Kabutops stand at either side of Hugo, scowling at the villanous leader.

"What's your purpose here?" Hugo asks, very alert.

"Let's have a chat. Why not put your pokémon back inside their balls?" Giovanni grins a sinister grin.

"Look, I might not be the world's most intelligent trainer, but I'm not dumb enough to do that."

"Ah, well, it was worth a try, wasn't it? Anyway, to answer your earlier question, we have no interest in Mount Moon or any of the people held captive here."

"So what's the point of coming here?"

Another sinister grin appears on Giovanni's face.

"To lure you here."

Hugo thinks for a moment, then he realises something. Team Rocket are the very same people he'd been trying to avoid, and now, without a second thought, he's marched straight into their temporary hideout.

"Wait a second… why were people shooting at me then?"

"To test you. If you can't even fight off these grunts, you're obviously not capable of doing what we need you for."

"Damn. I AM that dumb."

"Relax, young Hugo. I am sincere when I tell you I only desire a chat."

Hugo folds his arms. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Well, based on our encounter in Viridian City, it seems you possess an extraordinary power."

"What? The power to leave when I'm not wanted?"

"You remember all those Hypno's? They had no effect on you whatsoever, correct?"

"I guess they didn't."

"Well it appears that you are the only known living person that is immune to mind control. An attribute even I myself cannot boast."

"Well that makes sense I guess, considering my mind and memory got all messed up a while back..."

"We have a mission for you, young Hugo."

"A mission? So I'm suddenly a member of Team Rocket, then?"

Giovanni shakes his head. "Naturally, you should want something in return for us sending you on this mission. Well what we have is information."

Hugo frowns. "I don't see what information you could possibly have that I would-"

"It concerns your exceptionally slim friend."

Hugo's eyes widen. "Leaf."

Giovanni chuckles an evil chuckle. "It seems your sweet friend is not as inoccent as she may appear. Are you aware of her upbringing?"

Hugo shakes his head.

"Your friend is the daughter of someone I know very well. The woman known as Sarah, leader of team Oblivion."

Hugo scratches the top of his head. "Never heard of them."

"You will have soon. Their plan is almost complete." Giovanni explains.

"Plan? Something is happening?"

"And now, even more bad news for the poor citizens of Kanto..." Giovanni continues. "It seems a third gang are making themselves known. And they go by the name of Team Rainbow. Not a bad name. Imagine if our teams combined. We could be known as Team Rainbow Rocket. I like the sound of that..."

"Get to the point." Hugo puts his hands on his hips.

"The intentions of Team Rainbow are unknown, their members seem scattered as of now, but whatever they're up to cannot be good..."

"So how can I find this 'Sarah'?" Hugo believes that finding this woman might be the key to helping Leaf confront her past and deal with her condition.

Giovanni grins. "Her base of operations is somewhere near Vermillion City."

"Perfect! That's our my next destination." Hugo decides. "Well it was nice chatting with-"

"Hold it. I have not explained our mission. I have given you the information you desire, now you shall help me out."

"Fine! What do I have to do?" Hugo reluctantly agrees.

To Hugo's surprise, Giovanni calmly walks right up to him, within arm's reach. The gang leader holds out his hand, and there is a purple pokéball resting on his palm. It has the letter 'M' engraved on it in white.

"This is the Masterball. I would like you to travel to Cerulean Cave, and use it to capture Mewtwo. You are immune to its manipulative powers, but your friends are not, so you must enter the cave alone."

"MEWTWO?! The legendary pokémon?"

Giovanni nods. "That's right."

"Sorry, no can do-"

"Are you forgetting about the hostages we hold here? I believe only one of us are concerned with their well-being, and it certainly is not me."

Hugo aggressively swipes the Master Ball from Giovanni's hand.

"Good. Now don't even think about double crossing me. The Master Ball is an incredible piece of technology. It's fitted with a tracking device, so we'll know exactly where you are. In addition, it possesses its own power.

Giovanni pulls a small device with a button out of his pocket. He presses it, and Hugo feels a surge of energy rushing through his arm which holds the Master Ball.

"Now this is the impressive part. The ball has been programmed to only open when used on a pokémon with Mewtwo's D.N.A, meaning throwing it at your everyday Pidgey will prove useless. What's more, the ball is now bound to you, young Hugo. If it is moved more than ten feet away from you, we at Team Rocket HQ will know, and we will consider your mission to have failed."

Hugo glares at Giovanni. "Why should I care if I fail?"

Giovanni gives him a very serious look. It almost feels like he's staring directly into Hugo's soul.

"Do you really think it would be wise to make an enemy of Team Rocket?"

Hugo is not intimidated. "You know I really couldn't care less. As soon as I leave this place and the hostages are free, I could…"

Giovanni begins to laugh loudly. His laugh is very fitting of a supervillain.

"Too bad for you, I predicted that exact response… such a shame. Say, has your brother told you the news yet?"

Hugo immediately feels suspicious. "What...news?" He hesitates.

"Oh, you haven't heard? He's coming to visit in a few weeks! Flying directly from Sinnoh to Kanto. Wouldn't it be a shame if something were to… happen to that plane?"

"What are you saying?"

"Oh I don't know. Perhaps the pilot on that particular day happens to be a member of a certain organisation?"

"My brother's flying over here and the pilot's a Team Rocket member?"

"You catch on quick, young man. Perhaps you're not as much of a fool as you make yourself out to be. You have exactly three weeks until the day of that flight. Now good luck catching Mewtwo, you're going to need it."

Hugo glares fiercely at Giovanni.

"Oh, my last repel just ran out. Good job Team Rocket always carry a nice supply of escape ropes."

"Voltorb, use flash!" One of the grunts orders. A flash of light occurs, then all of a sudden Team Rocket are gone. A group of five trainers run past Hugo. "At last, we've been set free! Thanks for trying to help, young man!" Says one of the trainers as they run out at a pace.

"Why are they in such a hurry?" Hugo asks his pokémon. Tyranitar shrugs. Then they see it.

"Z-z-z-z-z-ZUBAT!" Hugo yells in disbelief. Hundreds of Zubat fly towards them at a pace. Hugo returns his pokémon and runs as fast as he possible can, with swarms of the poison/flying types attempting to use leech life on him.

* * *

After another long run, Hugo arrives back in Pewter City. He makes his way straight over to the Pokémon Centre and accesses the video call system. He inputs his brother's number. 'I have to warn him' He thinks to himself.

Just as he's expecting to see Hubert's face pop up, instead he sees someone he doesn't want to…

"Wahahaha!" Laughs the Team Rocket grunt on the screen. "You really thought we wouldn't intercept your call? That's hilarious! Hey Dylan, check out this loser-" With that, Hugo ends the call.

"Damn it!" He punches the wall in frustration.

Just then, Hugo's friends notice him.

"Hi, you're back. How did things go?" Asks Dawn.

"You don't look as happy as I think someone who's defeated Team Rocket should." Decides Misty.

"Well… it's a long story..."

Hugo is about to explain everything that happened to Misty, Dawn and Leaf. But he's worried about the response he'll get if he tells them he's now working for Team Rocket.

"...Actually, by the time I got there, Team Rocket were already gone and the hostages were freed."

"Oh, that's good. Did you learn why they were there? Or why they left?" Asks Dawn.

"Y...no. No idea. But I did receive an odd request from somebody."

"An odd request? How odd?" Questions Dawn.

"Well… there was a man there who lives in Cerulean City. He said he's been trying FOREVER to catch a Ditto in Cerulean cave, but he just can't do it. And he begged me to help him. Said he'd offer thirty thousand pokédollars as a reward."

The girl's eyes light up. "Really?!" Exclaims Dawn excitedly.

Then Hugo realises something. He hadn't planned his story at all, and now by claiming this, he's gotten the girls hopes up that he has a way to raise money for Leaf's treatment. He instantly regrets telling this lie, but has little choice but to go with it now.

"Y-yes. Great news, huh?" He answers nervously.

"That's fantastic!" Exclaims Misty. "Hey hop-along, how's your foot?" She turns to Dawn.

Dawn attempts to put pressure on her weak foot, but you the others can see the grimace on her face.

"You go. I'll only slow you down."

"B-but Dawn..." Leaf seems sad. She has obviously grown quite attached to Dawn in the short time they've known each other.

"Hmph. I'm not going with HIM without you." Misty folds her arms and turns her back to Hugo.

"Sure. Whatever. I'll go on my own."

"NO! WAIT!" All three of the girls exclaim at once.

"What's wrong?" Asks Hugo, confused.

"You can't go alone!" Leaf exclaims. "I want to adventure with you! I spent all this time looking for you! Now I want us to go together!"

"You shouldn't go alone." Dawn explains. "No chance will you be able to find the place all by yourself. Your sense of direction is non-existent."

"Says you..." Hugo remarks.

"Knowing a buffoon like you, you'd mess up, or spend the money on something dumb, like one of those super expensive bikes they sell in Cerulean." Explains Misty.

"I'm going too!" All three demand at once.

"So what, you're gonna hop your way there, Dawn?" Hugo asks.

"I've got crutches." Explains Dawn. "I might be a little slower than usual, but I'll be fine..."

"Should you really travel so far on crutches?" Misty asks.

"Well, it's either that, or..." She grins mischievously."

"Oh no, I ain't carrying anyone this time." Hugo says defiantly.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's get going. To Cerulean!" Misty announces. The four of them exit the Pokémon Centre as they take their first steps at the beginning of another crazy adventure.


	7. Chapter 7

"Hey, Mist?" Dawn grabs everyone's attention.

"What's up?"

"Why do they call it Mount Moon when it's actually a cave?"

"Probably because there's a friggin' MOUNTAIN OF ZUBATS!"

"Starmie, use swift for the one millionth time..." Misty's Starmie defeats its one-hundred and twelfth Zubat of the day.

"Rotom, thundershock..." Hugo groans. Another Zubat goes down.

"Yay." Misty and Hugo say sarcastically.

"You are an IDIOT!" Exclaims Misty. "Who trades their repels for a SANDWICH?!" Misty yells accusingly.

Hugo tries to defend himself. "Oh come on! Who can resist a nice cheese sandwich?"

"Everyone except you!"

"Fair point..."

"Unbelievable… It would've been faster to go all the way back to Pewter, buy more repels, then come back." Misty groans.

"Hey, it's all a bonding experience!" Hugo says optimistically.

"You're KIDDING me?!" Misty is not happy.

Dawn and Leaf are looking exhausted. On her crutches, Dawn can only move at a slow pace, giving the endless swarms of Zubat plenty of time to attack the gang over and over and over…

After what seems like a thousand Zubat battles, the gang can finally see sunlight…

"The exit!" Exclaims Dawn.

"Finally!" Exclaims Misty.

"Yay!" Adds Leaf.

"Not so fast!" A familiar man appears, blocking the exit.

"We meet again, my non-bug catcher mate. We're going to battle, it's not up for debate."

"Ugh… Jeffrey, is it? Now's not a good time..." Hugo groans.

"Nonsense! And I thought you'd remember my name. It's Johnny, and soon I will have worldwide fame."

"To be the world's greatest bug-catcher is my goal. I can defeat you if I'm on the ball."

"Come on then..." Hugo sighs.

"Venonat is impressive, I'm sure you'll agree. I trained it all the way from a level three."

"RAAAAAAAAA!" Hugo sends out his Tyranitar.

Venonat charges towards Tyranitar.

"Wait for the moment to attack, my friend. We'll emerge victorious in the end."

Tyranitar sees the pathetic bug-type and sighs heavily. So heavily, in fact, that the force of its breath knocks Venonat off its feet, launching it into the air. The pokémon slams against the rocky wall behind it, and lands with swirly eyes.

"Darn it! We suffered a narrow defeat. We'll battle again the next time our eyes meet..." With that, Johnny dashes out of the cave's exit.

"Yay! Well done!" Leaf congratulates Hugo with a smile, causing the other three to give her a confused look.

* * *

"And here we are! The glorious Cerulean City! What do you guys think? The best city you've ever seen, right?" Misty has cheered up after making the short walk from Mount Moon to Cerulean City.

"Meh." Shrugs Dawn.

"Seen better…" Hugo agrees.

"Um… it's not as good as some other places I've been..." Adds Leaf.

"WHAAAAAAAAAT?!" Misty is highly offended. "Look around! I insist! You'll soon change your mind!"

"Good idea. In fact, I see a shop that sells bikes over there… I'll check it out. I could really use one. Apparently there are special ones that can fit inside your bag..."

"Wouldn't they be super heavy?" Dawn wonders aloud.

Hugo glares at her. "I'm carrying around a rock dinosaur and you're asking that..."

"Oh yeah, silly question..." Dawn apologises.

Hugo goes inside the bicycle shop while the girls wait outside. They can see him having a discussion with the shopkeeper until his eyes widen.

"HOW MUCH?!" He storms out of the shop immediately.

"This is ridiculous! Who would ever buy one of them?"

Misty grins. "Yeah, the bikes here are pretty pricey..."

Hugo glances up at the sign at the top of the store. It reads 'JIM'S SUPER BIKES'

"How do they sell any bikes with those prices? I bet we don't see ONE person with one of those bikes the entire time we're here..." Hugo snarls. As he says this, a family of three ride past on bikes with the words 'Jim's Super Bikes' engraved on them.

"So, uh, Misty… how can I find this 'Cerulean Cave'?"

"That's easy!" Begins Misty. "But first, I wanna show you my favourite place in the whole world..."

"Please don't tell me it's that sex shop over there..." Says Dawn.

Misty is stunned. "Dawn! You've spent too much time with Brock!" Dawn blushes a little.

"I'll show you. Come on." Misty marches off ahead, forgetting that she should be travelling slowly for Dawn's sake.

"Wait a minute..." Hugo realises. "If you've never been here before, how could you possibly know what that shop sells?

"Um… no reason..." Dawn looks a little embarrassed.

"Hang on! Earlier, when you were searching online on your phone, you must've searched for..." A smug grin begins to form on Hugo's face until he receives a hard slap in the face.

"How dare you! I'm a lady!" Dawn snaps.

Hugo rubs his cheek that now has a fresh red mark. "A lady with hormones..." He chuckles to himself.

* * *

"Ta-da!" Misty reveals. "I present to you the Cerulean Gym! Home of the tomboyish mermaid. That's yours truly!"

The gym looks pretty much like any other swimming pool, with coral decorations and Pokémon references scattered throughout. Where the gang are, though, is a small waiting room scattered with seats with a glass wall and door separating it from the main area.

"Wow Misty, this is amazing." Leaf is in awe.

"Haha! Knew I could win you guys over." Misty smirks.

"I mean, did you design it so badly to intimidate challengers?" Leaf asks. Misty's ego is instantly deflated.

"B-but… I worked hard on..."

"Ow!" Dawn exclaims, sitting down on the nearest seat. "My foot..."

"Uh-oh." Misty says worriedly. "Looks like you'll need to rest for a while..."

"Maybe we can stay here tonight? It's getting dark anyway. I should be good to go come morning!" Dawn suggests.

"Sure thing!" Misty answers. "I live here. Through that door at the back leads to my home. There's plenty of food, and four beds total for when my sisters are all here, which isn't often..."

"Great idea!" Leaf declares. Her stomach has been rumbling for a while now, but she's refused to acknowledge it.

"You girls go ahead. I have business to attend to..."

"What? Now?" Asks Dawn.

"Yeah. Gio… I mean, that trainer really sounded eager for me to do this as soon as possible. And that cave sounds dangerous, I wouldn't want any of you getting hurt..."

"Aw, that's sweet." Misty says in the most sarcastic tone possible.

From her seat, Dawn grabs Hugo's arm. "Hugo, be careful. I don't want to find you in the same state as Lake Verity..."

"Relax, when do I ever mess things up… actually, don't answer that. Take care of Leaf for me!" Hugo makes his way out of the building.

"Okay, according to this map, I need to head up Nugget Bridge." He mutters to himself.

Hugo makes his way to the north of town, and arrives on Nugget Bridge.

"Alright contest trainers. It's quitting time!" A man yells from the other side of the bridge.

"Finally!" One trainer yells.

"It's been a long day." Says another. "Hey Fred, how'd your day of battling go?"

"Eh, I did my best. I have no regrets." Says Fred.

The squad notice Hugo as they make their way off the bridge.

"Hey, how'd you like to join Team Rocket? We're a group of professional criminals specialising in pokémon." A man tells him.

"Um… I already work for them… kinda..." Hugo explains as he makes his way past.

Hugo makes his way to the top of Nugget Bridge. In the distance, he can see Cerulean Cape. He turns around and accidentally catches a young couple in the act. The male notices him and just gives off a smug grin, not seeming to care.

'So I just have to surf down here…' He thinks, noticing some water beside Nugget bridge.

Moments later, Hugo and Kabutops successfully surf across the water, finding themselves outside

the entrance to Cerulean Cave.

"Excuse me, sir." A young man immediately approaches Hugo. "Let me see your badges. You must have 8 badges to enter- OOF!" Hugo punches the man in the gut really hard, causing him to collapse to his knees.

"Sorry kid, I'm a rookie trainer just beginning his journey. So now I'm gonna go catch Mewtwo!" Hugo feels a bit guilty, but oh well, he was never good at persuasion.

Upon entering the cave, Hugo realises how stupid he has been. He hasn't brought anything to provide him with light, and does not own any fire type pokémon. In other words, he can't see a thing. He tries to make his way through the cave by holding onto the cold, rocky walls. He trips over things he can't see several times, but eventually he makes it around a corner. All of a sudden he can see! Someone is lighting up the room he's staring into.

"Mewtwo! I know you're in here! Come out!" A man yells, standing beside his Ponyta.

This person is not a sight for sore eyes. It's the same mysterious man that killed two of Hugo's pokémon, murdered his own Pikachu, killed Brock's Onix then shot Brock! Needless to say Hugo does not thing highly of this person. However, he decides to wait and see what this man does.

In a flash of light, a psychic pokémon appears. It looks very powerful and intimidating. That must be Mewtwo! It raises its hand, and with its powerful psychic attack it lifts Ponyta into the air and slams it against the floor, instantly making it faint.

"So you're not as cowardly as I thought. Excellent." The man sends out his Snorlax, leaving the fainted Ponyta on the floor to provide light with its fiery mane.

Before the man is able to command an attack, Mewtwo strikes again. It raises its hand, attempting to lift Snorlax into the air. However, the psychic type was obviously not expecting Snorlax to be so heavy. A grimace is visible on its face as it struggles to pull off the attack.

"Perfect." The man springs into action. He runs towards Mewtwo, raising his mysterious walking-stick like weapon into the air, preparing to hit Mewtwo with it.

"No!" Hugo cries. Instinctively, he breaks his cover and sprints towards Mewtwo. Despite having been stood further away, Hugo is much faster than the man and catches up to him with ease. Just as Mewtwo is about to be hit by the strange weapon Hugo dives in front of Mewtwo, putting his own body between the legendary pokémon and the powerful weapon. All of a sudden, everything goes white.

* * *

When Hugo's vision is clear again, he looks around. He is in a large, almost empty room. To his right, there are some stairs leading downwards. To his left, Mewtwo is levitating just above the ground, an emotionless expression on its face. Hugo is in awe of this pokémon's incredible power. He'd seen the move teleport used before but Mewtwo just teleported itself out of a seemingly impossible situation. And who knows where they are now? A typical Abra can teleport a few hundred yards every now and again at best. Alakazam might be able to take you to the next town, but would require massive periods of rest. Mewtwo, however, is very powerful. It could probably go straight from Cerulean Cave to Johto if it wanted to.

"Hi, Mewtwo. Thanks for saving me. And I'm really really sorry about this, but I need to catch you for somebody else."

Tyranitar, let's do this!" Hugo gives out his battle cry.

"We need to be quick, use-"

Mewtwo's reflexes are much much greater. It instantly uses a powerful aura sphere attack. The blue ray of energy engulfs Tyranitar. Within three seconds, the rock and dark type is on the floor, fainted.

"Master ball go!" Hugo attempts to take Mewtwo by surprise. He launches the ball, but Mewtwo intercepts it midair. With its psychic powers, it launches the ball back at Hugo. The ball hits him in the head and sends him sprawling backwards. In his daze, he grabs Tyranitar's ball and returns it. As he does this, he stumbles backwards and falls down the stairs.

"OOF-OW-GAH-ARGH-OOH-OUCH!" Hugo makes a lot of noise as he tumbles down an especially long flight of stairs. By the time he reaches the bottom, he's in agony.

"OW! MY SORE ARSE!" He bellows at the top of his lungs. As soon as he says it, he notices a crowd of people glaring at him with disapproving expressions. He's in a large, dull room with a few small stones scattered around the place. He can see another flight of stairs to take him further down at the opposite side of the room. He stands up, and begins to make his way across the room. It's totally silent. All of the people are glaring at him. Some look like they've been recently crying. They're all dressed in black.

"Gee, why do you all look so miserable?! It's like somebody's died!" His loud voice echoes around the room.

"Ahem." The priest grabs his attention and gestures towards the gravestone they're gathered around, making it exceedingly obvious that this is a funeral.

"Oh, oh geez, I'm so sorrry. I didn't realise..." Hugo walks backwards towards the stairs while apologising. He's so busy expressing how sorry he is that he fails to notice that he's arrived at the next set of stairs, and proceeds to trip down them once again.

"OOH-OUCH-OOF-GAH-WAH-ARGH-OOOOW!" Are his words as he takes his second tumble in two minutes.

Hugo lands at the bottom of the stairs feeling well and truly defeated.

"Excuse me sir, do you have anything to say for your behaviour upstairs?" A woman in a smart suit asks.

"My arse hurts so much..."

"AND STAY OUT! DON'T LET ME EVER SEE YOUR FACE IN HERE AGAIN! IGNORANT PRICK!"

A bulky looking security guard tosses Hugo through the door outside. Hugo lands in a cold puddle to see that it's dark and raining heavily.

"Oh yeah?! Well what sort of weirdos hold a funeral at NIGHT?!" He exclaims in protest.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" A voice asks from behind, startling Hugo. It's a little girl.

"Why, of course I do! In fact, I'm worried my friend might turn into one if she doesn't start eating properly…"

"Interesting. So that white hand on your shoulder, I'm not imagining it?" Asks the very young girl.

"What the- WAAAAAH!" Just for a moment, Hugo thinks he feels something touch his shoulder. He leaps up from his sitting position and sprints away as fast as he can. Just ahead, he sees a Pokémon Centre. He dashes through the doors into the warm, dry buidling.

"Hello, welcome to the Lavender Town Pokémon Centre. Would you like a room for the night?" Nurse Joy asks. This particular Joy does not give off the usual warm, welcoming smile.

"Lavender Town?! How did I get here?"

"Well you put one foot in front of the other and then put the other foot in front of that one, and repeated the process a few thousand times until you arrived at your destination." Explains Nurse Joy.

"Believe it or not, I know how walking works…" Hugo laughs at the nurse's humour.

"Is that so? So why run through the room so quickly, getting your muddy footprints all over our nice, clean floor?"

Hugo looks behind, and sees that the floor is now very dirty.

Nurse Joy sighs. "Look, my shift ends in an hour. If you can do me a favour I'll forget your reckless behaviour."

"A favour? Apparently I'm not so great at doing favours..."

"Look, I've had a shit day. I'm stuck working in this shitty town while all the other Joys get to enjoy places like Celadon, Safron, Viridian… yet they assign me with Lavendar town. Unbelievable. As if I wanted to be cursed by a ghost or something..."

"Look, I've just been banned from a place I'd never even heard of. It's not been the greatest for me either…"

Nurse Joy opens her counter and stands close to Hugo.

"But you're happy to come in here and give me more work to do by making the floor so dirty..."

"More work? But the place is deserted. Have you had anything to do at all until now?"

"Look, either I report you for your attitude towards staff or you do this favour for me." Joy stands even closer. "My husband's been cheating and I want to get back at him..."

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Hugo exclaims. "No no no. No thanks. I'm gone. I guess I won't be sleeping tonight… AGAIN! I told Misty, everyone in Kanto is a pervert..."

"So you're just gonna dirty my floor and leave?! Well fuck you! You're banned! Banned for life!"

"Oh no, not the Lavender Town Pokémon Centre! It's soooo popular! What will I ever do?" Hugo remarks sarcastically as he makes his exit.

Upon exiting the building back into the cold, wet night, Hugo is immediately jumped by a man dressed in a Team Rocket uniform. The man grabs Hugo's arms and attempts to pin him against the wall and overpower him. However, this man of average height is completely outmatched and soon finds himself lying on the floor.

"Look, I'm sorry, aggression is the only way I know. Here. Take my phone. The boss wants to talk."

Hugo takes the grunt's phone.

"Greetings, young Hugo. How goes operation: Capture Mewtwo?" The voice is obviously Giovanni's. He sounds surprisingly friendly and upbeat.

"I tried my best. No ordinary Pokémon can touch it."

"So I see." Giovanni tells him. "You forced it to teleport to the spot it likes so much atop Lavender tower. People seldom go up there and when they do, they must get a big surprise to see Mewtwo. I must say, I'm impressed."

"Um… yeah. Thanks." Hugo decides not to mention the fact that it teleported because of the strange man.

"Even more impressive is that you were able to get close enough for it to accidentally teleport you with it. I got quite a surprise when my tracker showed you in Lavender Town."

"Yeah, sure. So how's Hubert?"

Giovanni chuckles at the other end of the phone call. "You can relax. Your brother's journey will be a safe one and that will remain the case as long as you continue to co-operate."

Hugo frowns. "You can send me back there a hundred times. Mewtwo is uncatchable."

"Well, there is something we can do to even the odds a little more. But I shall not discuss it over the phone."

"What do you want me to do?" Hugo asks.

"Meet me in our headquarters. Tomorrow, 8PM. Don't be late."

"Headquarters?! How am I supposed to find-" The call is cut off.

"Here pal, your phone." Hugo hands the grunt his phone back.

"At least you didn't smash it, like the boss probably would..." The grunt mutters as he makes his exit.

"Well… looks like I'm stuck out in the cold and rain… wearing shorts." Hugo begins to wander aimlessly around town, searching for somewhere to shelter him.

"Young man, please! Get out of the rain! You'll catch a cold!" An elderly man calls out to Hugo.

Hugo wanders towards this man, who is poking his head out of his front door.

"Come inside. It's not good being stuck out there."

Normally, Hugo might be suspicious of someone like this, but by now he's too tired to care. He follows the man indoors.

"Goodness. You're soaking wet. Stay there, I'll go get a towel for you." Without even introducing himself, the old man disappears into another room.

Stood in the hallway at the entrance of the building, Hugo looks around. He sees pictures on walls and desks. Most of them depict the same man Hugo just met. He looks very cheerful in all of them and is seen with a large variety of people and pokémon.

"Here you go." The man returns with a towel, wrapping it around Hugo. "Now take off your shoes. Come in and take a seat. He puts his hand on Hugo's back as he guides him through the hallway.

"I-I'm Hugo. Pleased to meet you, and thank you for your hospitality."

The man, who upon closer inspection, is fairly old with a bald head, wearing a white dressing gown and nothing on his feet, smiles at Hugo.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, young Hugo. You can call me Mr Fuji."

They arrive in what appears to be the living room, and there are four other people present, two women, one man and a little girl. There's also some small pokémon; Mankey, Pikachu and Bulbasaur are playing with the people.

"Come, take a seat." Mr Fuji gestures towards a comfortable looking dark green leather chair and himself takes a seat on a red leather sofa.

"Anyone for tea?" A third woman walks in, with several cups of tea at the ready.

"Please give one to our newest guest." Mr Fuji asks.

The woman smiles as she hands Hugo a cup of tea. "Typical of you, Mr Fuji! Inviting in yet another total stranger."

"So… thank you for inviting me. But I do not want to trouble your family. I will leave soon..."

Mr Fuji chuckles. "No, no, no. Stay the night. And none of these people are family by blood. They are all friends who like to hang around here. Same goes for the pokémon."

Right on cue, a male Nidoran enters the room.

"Why, if it isn't Sammy the Nidoran. Come on in!"

"Nido!" Nidoran remarks happily.

"So, people and pokémon just come and go in your house?" Hugo sips his tea and instantly regrets it, as it's REALLY hot.

"You haven't heard of Mr Fuji? He's the nicest guy in the world! He'll go to extreme lengths to help out anyone in any way." Explains one of the women.

"Yeah, he really is a great guy! I've stayed over five or six times. I try to repay all of his kindness but it really is impossible!" Says another woman.

"I visit him as often as I can along with my daughter." Explains the man.

"Why, thank you, but really I am not as great as you make me out to be." Fuji blushes slightly.

"So tell me, Hugo. What brings you to Lavender Town."

Hugo feels kind of embarrassed. "Well, honestly, it's a long story, and you wouldn't believe me even if I told you..."

"Nonsense!" Fuji exclaims. "Why, none of us have any reason not to believe you now, do we?" Everyone in the room shakes their head in agreement.

"Well, okay, it all started when I was visiting my friend Brock in hospital..." Hugo explains the whole story of his encounter with Giovanni and then Mewtwo. The whole time, Fuji is listening and reacting to his every word. He shows no sign of believing the story to be false.

"Well Hugo, that's quite a story." Fuji says after Hugo has finished.

"Incredible! You met Mewtwo today?!" The man asks excitedly.

"Yes, believe it or not. It might still be in the tower. We could go and see if I weren't banned."

"Hmm… so Giovanni asked you to visit him in his base, did he?"Fuji asks.

"Y-yes. Not that I can. I have no idea where it is…"

"You are not aware? Hohoho. It is a little known fact that Team Rocket's base of operations is over in Celadon City."

Hugo's eyes widen. "Wow, you're an intelligent man."

Just then, the door to the room is swung open and a woman rushes in. She wears a plain red dress, her long, curly hair is soaked.

"Mr Fuji! I can't do it! I can't do it!" The woman talks loudly. She sounds upset.

"Oh dear, Lauren. Still having trouble with Haunter, I see?" Mr Fuji replies.

"It just doesn't listen to me. It doesn't like me!" Lauren complains.

"Hmm..." Fuji appears to be pondering something.

"Lauren, this is Hugo. Please show him your problem."

"Oh… hi Hugo." Lauren blushes a little, embarrassed that a total stranger has seen her current predicament. "Here, take a look." Lauren releases her pokéball, revealing her Haunter.

"Haunt Haunter!" The pokémon glares angrily at its trainer.

"Oh no! It's really pissed off with me!"

"HAUNT!" Haunter uses bite on its trainer, bruising Lauren's leg.

"Ow! Stop it! Stop it!"

"Hugo, I believe you should attempt to connect with Haunter." Fuji tells him calmly.

"Hmm… just a minute, I'll be right back." Hugo exits the room, entering the kitchen. A moment later, he returns.

"Now come on out Rotom!" He calls. From the kitchen, a floating fridge enters and begins levitating in front of Haunter.

"Haunt! Haunt! Haunter!" The pokémon appears to be ecstatic, seemingly thinking Hugo is magic.

Rotom exits the room, and returns moments later, this time possessing a microwave.

"Haunt! Haunt! Haunter!" The poison and ghost type is loving this.

Lauren looks stunned as she sits on the carpet with Hugo and Mr Fuji. "A- a Rotom?! Aren't they legendary?!"

Hugo shakes his head. "I think some people mistake them as legendary, but I guess they're just pretty rare."

"Th-that's unbelievable!" Lauren now has a big smile on her face.

"Haunter!" The happy pokémon is jumping for joy in Hugo's face.

"Y-you're incredible. How'd you manage to win over my stubborn Haunter so easily?"

"It wasn't me, it was Rotom." There is now a fan floating around the room.

"I wish I had a Rotom. They're incredible!" Lauren exclaims.

"Well I'm very glad how this all worked out." Mr Fuji smiles.

"Hey, I just had a great idea!" Lauren exclaims.

"Go on. Tell us all about it." My Fuji responds.

"Why don't we trade pokémon? Your Rotom for my Haunter?"

"Oh geez..." Hugo replies. "I don't think so. Sorry. I like my Rotom."

"I didn't think you'd want to. Oh well. Sorry to bother you, Hugo, and Mr Fuji. May I make you two a drink?"

"No trouble at all, Lauren. And yes please. I'd love one." Fuji is very friendly as always.

"Yes please." Hugo agrees.

Lauren heads into the kitchen, and a moment later, she's back with drinks.

"Ooh, thank you." Hugo reaches to grab one.

"Ah, no, no, this one is for you." Lauren explains. "Mr Fuji has his made in a certain way."

Hugo takes the drink and downs it in one go. Something tastes a little off, but he thinks nothing of it.

For the next half an hour, the people in Mr Fuji's house make small talk and have a laugh. As it's very late, however, they soon decide to head for bed.

"Lauren, you can sleep in this guest room as you often do." Fuji explains. His house is massive. How many guest rooms does he have?

"Thank you very much, do you mind if Hugo comes in with me for a moment, I wish to discuss something with him."

"Sure. Hugo, you can have the room across the hall. I'm heading for bed. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Mr Fuji!" Hugo and Lauren say together.

Hugo follows Lauren into her room. It's quite large, and she gets a big double bed all to herself.

"Hey, nice room! Mr Fuji is awesome, isn't he?" Hugo asks.

Lauren smiles slightly. "Yes, easy to manipulate too."

"Huh? Why would you want to… ugh..." Hugo's sentence is cut off as he begins to feel faint.

"Good. It's taking effect. What a bonus for me that you happen to be so hot!"

Before he can contemplate what she means, Hugo feels his muscles give up on him as collapses to the floor.

* * *

Hugo wakes up. He doesn't remember going to sleep… wait a minute. Where is he? As he comes to his senses, he realises he's still in Mr Fuji's house. In fact, he's still in that same room… Lauren's room. Crap! He realises his clothes are missing, and he turns over to see a content looking Lauren laying beside him on the luxury double bed. Of course, her clothes are missing too.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Hugo exclaims, louder than intended.

"Huh?" Lauren opens her eyes, glancing at the clock beside the bed. "Wow, you're awake already. Guess I should've given a bigger dose to a big guy like you. Usually I'm long gone by the time they wake up."

"You arsehole." Hugo glares at Lauren.

"Heehee. Yeah, you did put it in there last night." Lauren looks pleased with herself.

"You're disgusting!" Hugo is horrified. He leaps out of bed and rushes to grab his clothes scattered around the floor.

"Why rush?" Lauren puts her hands behind her head, spreading out her elbows. "I've already seen it, and used it..."

"What have you taken?" Hugo asks, wondering where his wallet is.

"Relax. I hadn't gotten around to taking any money. And now I can't. There's one thing you can't undo though..."

"What the hell did you do?!"

"Remember that trade you didn't agree to?"

Hugo is putting his belt back on, and notices that one of the pokéballs looks a little different.

"Enjoy your new Gengar. I've done you a favour. You know, they evolve when traded.

"Fuck you!"

"You already did!"

Not wishing to spend any more time with this woman, Hugo takes a mad dash out of the house. It's early, so everyone else is still sleeping and not there to notice him leave. He leaves a note thanking Mr Fuji for his generosity, along with a bit of money. He doubts the old man needs it, but he'd feel bad not to leave something.

He begins his walk west, towards Cerulean City. A quick check of the time shows him it's almost 7AM. That gives him barely 13 hours to get where he's heading. Shouldn't be too bad, surely?

Just then, Hugo walks past a wooden sign with an arrow. 'CERULEAN CITY 60 MILES'

"DAMN IT!" Hugo yells aloud. "How do I cover 60 miles in half a day?!"

Hugo begins to jog. He's pretty fast, and manages to cover 10 miles within the next hour. The effort is leaving him exhausted though, and he decides he needs to return to a walking pace. Luckily, there is a water fountain along the path where he can take a drink. He is just in the process of bending over to take a drink when- OOF!

"Hey, watch where you're going, dick!" A woman has tripped over Hugo. She appears to be around his age, maybe a little older. She has black hair and wears a red headband. She dresses kind of similarly to one of those famous kimono girls from Johto.

"Me?! But you're the one who tripped over me."

"Not my fault your lanky body blocked half the path… ew! You're sweaty! Disgusting! Why were you running just now? Running's so retarded. It makes you all gross and stinky."

"I'm off to Celadon. I'm in a rush. Goodbye." Hugo tells her.

The woman sticks her tongue out at him. "Why not just teleport, or ride a flying type, fucking idiot?"

"Because I don't have a flying or psychic type. Durr!"

"Well you're fucked then, aren't you? It's miles away."

Hugo begins to realise how foul-mouthed this woman is.

"Hence why I was running." He explains.

"Wow, fuck me, I could never run that far. You're shitting me if you think you can make it all in one go! Let's see your pokémon, wonder if any of them can help?"

Hugo sighs. "Ugh. Here. Take a look."

Hugo sends out his four pokémon: Shinx, Kabutops, Tyranitar and Ro- um… Haunter. Upon being sent out, Haunter begins to glow.

"Fuck yeah! It's evolving!" The woman exclaims.

"Uh, yeah… that's cool I guess." Hugo frowns.

"Hey, if you didn't want a Gengar, why did you agree to trade for one?" The woman asks.

"I didn't..." Begins Hugo. He is interrupted by a pokémon's cry.

"Gengar!" The newly evolved pokémon yells.

"Yay!" The woman delights.

"Okay, so what are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?" Asks Hugo.

"Well, you see, I was merely enjoying a stroll..."

"Yeah right. You're 10 miles from the nearest civilization. Some stroll?"

Suddenly, the woman looks highly offended. "Well fuck you if you don't wanna believe me, dick!"

The woman begins to march onward, towards Celadon.

"You're in the same position as me, haha." Hugo laughs as he returns all his pokémon and continues his own walk.

"Yeah, well maybe I dumped my boyfriend and he refused to fly me back home. And maybe I left all my money at home. And maybe my phone's dead and I don't have a charger with me."

"Not the best time to dump your boyfriend by the sound of it..."

"Fuck off!"

"Hey, can't you use your pokémon to get home?"

The woman sends out her pokémon all at once. Vileplume, Venusaur, Cradily, Exeggutor, Tangrowth and Abomasnow.

"See?" She returns them all just as quickly as she sent them out.

Hugo is simply in awe of her powerful team. "Wow. That team's almost like..."

"…A gym leader's?"

"Yeah, how'd you..."

"I'm Erika."

"Oh, I get it. The grassy woman."

"Please don't call me that."

"Sorry grassy woman."

"Look, I've had a bad night, I'm tired, I'm hungry, I'm supposed to be back by dinner time, and you're fucking annoying."

"Well, sounds like we're both equally screwed."

"So what's your story?"

"Well, I've been blackmailed by a criminal mastermind into capturing Mewtwo or he's gonna kill my brother and probably all my friends and family too. Now I've gotta meet up with him by 8 or I'm a dead man. So, y'know, standard stuff."

"Huh, Giovanni… he's getting YOU to do his bidding? You know you're not the first, right?"

"Huh?"

"I've been involved with that shit before. He tried getting me to do all sorts of shit. Guess he overestimated the Gym Leaders…" Erika pulls out a packet of tobacco and begins rolling a cigarette.

"How'd you get out of it, then?"

"Get out of it? You think I got out easy? You know what he did?"

"No idea."

"He killed my father."

"Crap."

"Why do you think I smoke? Helps me cope with the stress. I've been royally fucked throughout my life. Life's a bitch. People screw you over again and again then you die."

"Hey, you should lay off those fags, they ain't good."

"Like I give a fuck. Death could appear before me right now and I'd welcome it with open arms."

Just then, an Alakazam appears out of nowhere. There is a woman standing beside it. Blue hair, a strap-on shirt, and she wears some strange looking green and black rings around her wrists.

"Sabrina." Erika recognises her instantly.

"Erika. And Hugo." Sabrina replies.

"Wait, how did you-" Hugo begins.

"I'm psychic." Sabrina explains.

"Oh yeah, of course."

"We have to go. Now." Sabrina tells them. Most psychic pokémon need a lengthy rest between each use of teleport, and cannot teleport very far. Sabrina, though, is a master of psychic pokémon.

"We need more power for this distance." The ring on her left wrist begins to glow. "ALAKAZAM! MEGA EVOLVE!" She cries loudly. Alakazam begins to glow, and before their very eyes it becomes mega Alakazam.

"Incredible!" Hugo is in awe, witnessing mega evolution for the first time.

"Teleport!" Sabrina commands. In a flash, they vanish.

The group reappear in a small woodland area within a city. Just over a hundred metres down a mud path is the entrance to a pokémon gym.

"Fufufufu. Can't wait to stare at all those women through the window again..." An old man mutters to himself as he walks past them, along the path. He arrives at the window "Hehehe… WAIT, WHAT THE HELL?!"

"Your gym is under attack." Explains Sabrina.

"Who the fuck dares to attack? I'll take the bastard down!" Erika looks furious. She sprints towards the gym's entrance.

"BRING IT ON, BITCH!" Erika gives out her battle cry.

"She'll get herself killed. We have to help." Sabrina tells Hugo.

Hugo and Sabrina chase after Erika. They are able to catch up just as she enters the building.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Erika screams in horror.

The Celadon Gym is in ruins. There is blood scattered on the floor. Several of the gym trainers are sat in the corner, cowering in fear. A familiar face is standing there. The same man who crippled Brock and tried to attack Mewtwo. His Snorlax is beside him, he holds his 'walking stick' in one hand and his pistol in the other. Unfortunately, he notices the trio the instant they enter the building. He points his gun towards the helpless Gym trainers.

"You don't have the balls!" Erika threatens.

The man raises his arm. Without even turning around, he fires a bullet at the gym trainers in the corner. One of them is hit in the shoulder.

"OWWWW!" She cries in pain.

"STOP RIGHT THERE! POLICE!" Three armed police officers burst through the door. In an instant, the first one receives a bullet straight into his skull. He instantly drops dead. The second officer fires a bullet at the man. His surprisingly agile Snorlax gets in the way though. The bullet recoils off its stomach, hitting the officer in his stomach, causing him to collapse to the floor. The third officer rushes in, sees what has happened, then instantly turns around and runs away screaming "Fuck this shit!"

"Oh dear, no need for such strong language. I'm only here for the Gym leaders anyway." The man laughs as if nothing has happened. He fires a bullet at Sabrina. However, Mega Alakazam causes it to freeze in mid-air. Having lost all its momentum, the bullet drops harmlessly to the floor.

"So you wanna play that game, do you? Come on out Giratina!" The man launches a pokéball summoning the powerful ghost.

"What is that thing?!" Erika exclaims in surprise.

"We'll just have to defeat it." Sabrina calmly tells them.

"Okay, Venusaur, come on out!" Erika summons her grass and poison type.

"Tyranitar, let's do this!" Hugo sends out his rock and dark type.

"Giratina, use shadow ball!" The man commands. Giratina launches the powerful attack. Alakazam manages to narrowly avoid it.

"Alakazam, psychic!" "Tyranitar, crunch!" "Venusaur use petal blizzard!"

Tyranitar launches itself at Giratina while Alakazam and Venusaur launch their attacks. All three hit, yet the ghost type doesn't even seem slightly hurt.

"Shadow ball again!"

Giratina launches a second shadow ball attack, once again aimed at Alakazam. This time, the mega evolved psychic type is unable to get out of the way in time. It's knocked onto the floor, its mega evolution disappears and it is unable to continue.

"Don't worry. This bastard is going down! VENUSAUR!" Erika's headband begins to glow. Within seconds, Venusaur begins to glow too. In a flash it has changed into Mega Venusaur.

"Venusaur, sludge bomb!"

"We're done here." The man decides. "Dragon breath."

Giratina quickly sprays out a powerful breath, spinning around so it flies out in all direction. While this is happening, it's easily enduring Venusaur's attack.

"Quick, dodge!" Hugo orders, but to no avail. Both Venusaur and Tyranitar are hit by the attack. Tyranitar is flung onto the ground, landing unconscious. Venusaur just barely manages to hold on.

"Damn it!" Hugo returns Tyranitar, feeling frustrated.

"Venusaur, use-"

"Shadow claw."

Giratina grabs Venusaur with its shadow claw attack, and throws it against a wall. The mega evolved pokémon is knocked out, losing its powered up form.

"SHIT! Venusaur, re-" "Not so fast!" Snorlax puts itself in-between Erika and her fallen ally. It blocks the red beams intended to return Venusaur to its encapsulated home. The man calmly strolls over to Venusaur's fainted body.

"Wh-what's going on?" Erika begins to panic.

"Not so fast!" Sabrina, having obviously predicted what is about to happen, somehow manages to get Alakazam to use teleport a second time. This is practically unheard of, as most psychic types usually need a lengthy rest between each use of the move. They quickly warp themselves beside Venusaur, ready to protect it.

"Try to think before you act." The man advises. With reflexes too fast for Sabrina to handle, he points his gun towards her and lets off a powerful blast. The psychic gym leader's skull cannot withstand the powerful momentum of the bullet.

"SABRINA!" Erika screams.

Realising what's about to happen, Hugo sprints towards Erika, desperate to help her. As he runs he turns his gaze towards the man, who peeps his head around the side of Snorlax's huge body and fires another bullet. Hugo uses all the strength in his legs to dive into Erika, he manages to push her sideways, getting her out of the way less than a second before the bullet would have gone straight through her head.

"COME ON, LET'S GO!" Hugo yells over the sound of the gym trainers who are now screaming in terror. He grabs Erika's arm and makes a run for the gym's exit.

"HE'S GOT MY FUCKING VENUSAUR!" She screams, attempting to shake free of his grip with no success. By this point, Venusaur has already fallen victim to the man's 'stick'.

"WE HAVE TO GO! NOW!" Hugo manages to drag Erika along with him, out of the gym's front doors. Now putting up less resistance, Erika is pulled by Hugo well out of the woods, as they continue into the city. They stop outside the game corner, and Hugo finally lets go of Erika's arm. The two of them pant for breath.

"Fuck my life! This is horrible!" Erika is almost in tears as she gasps for breath.

"We need to blend in. Let's go." Hugo tells her. The pair make their way into the game corner.

"My Venusaur! My poor poor Venusaur!" Erika struggles to hold back tears as they walk through the building.

"You have to calm down. It's gone. Nothing can be done."

"GAH! FUCK THAT GUY! MURDERING CUNT!"

Everyone in the games corner is staring at Erika disapprovingly after this outburst.

"Ms Erika, is there a problem?" One member of staff asks.

"N-no. Apologies." Says the grass type gym leader.

"Come on Hugo. There's somewhere you need to go."

Erika leads Hugo to the back of the games corner, there is a shady looking character leaning against the wall with his arms folded. He wears a Team Rocket uniform and has sunglasses covering his eyes.

"We're here to see the boss." Erika tells him.

"Name?" The shady dude asks.

"He's Hugo. Y'know. The really tall one."

"Ah, of course, a bit early, but come in and make yourself at home."

Next to the shady character is a poster on the wall. Erika removes it to reveal a secret lever. She pulls it, revealing a secret staircase leading downward. She hands the poster back to the shady character and follows Hugo down the stairs.

As Hugo gets to the bottom of the stairs he sets foot on a strange looking panel. "WOAH!" He cries as he's sent spinning uncontrollably towards a wall. "Oof!" He slams into the wall face first. Erika is careful to step around the panel. The building they are now in appears fururistic, with a mainly white colour scheme. There are corridors both to the left and behind, but in front there is a large screen. The screen turns on, and a woman dressed in a Team Rocket uniform appears on screen. She's sat at a desk.

"Ah, Hugo. You're here rather early. As your meeting concerns a rather urgent matter, however, I'll push it forwards. It will be in 5 minutes. Please proceed along the corridor to your left."

Hugo and Erika make their way along the corridor.

"Thanks, dickhead." Erika mumbles quietly.

"Thanks for what?"

"Y'know."

"No I don't."

"For saving my life and all that."

"Oh… ok."

Luckily, their awkward conversation is ended when a door is opened in front of them. The same female who'd appeared on the screen earlier is standing before them.

"Ah, what a surprise. You brought the lovely Ms Erika with you. However, I will have to ask her to stay out- OOF!" The woman receives a hard uppercut fist to the face. She is immediately knocked unconscious. Erika continues walking as if nothing has happened and Hugo decides he's now just a little bit scared of her.

Erika and Hugo proceed through the door and each take a seat behind a desk. At the other side of the desk, a chair spins around to reveal Giovanni, stroking a Persian on his lap.

Giovanni wastes no time in getting straight to the point of the meeting."Impressive work making it out of there alive, young Hugo. Now I'd like to give you something that will change your life forever."

* * *

 **My longest chapter ever! Hope you enjoyed.**


	8. Chapter 8

"I'm giving you a mega ring." Giovanni explains. "These things are incredibly expensive, and can only be produced by teams of top scientists. They aren't sold in shops for any price."

"I don't have any use for it..." Hugo frowns. "Why bother?"

"It is true that you currently have no use for this mega ring I'm giving you, however, you will have plenty of use for it once you can find an appropriate mega stone."

"You have a lead on where I can find one?"

"Yes. I have been informed that the safari zone, just north of Fuschia City, is home to many rare treasures. Among these are an apparent abundance of mega stones. Many trainers have been able to get their hands on them in this location. Of course, a trainer of your standard should have no trouble finding one appropriate for the pokémon you currently have on-hand."

Hugo sighs. "Come on, with all due respect, you know I need to head for Vermillion City, and you keep sending me further and further away from there."

"So I suppose you are not concerned for the safety of your sibling?"

Hugo frowns. He's in a tough situation here. There's nothing he can do but give in to Giovanni's commands.

"Fine."

"WHAT?! You think mega evolution is enough to take on Mewtwo?! My Venusaur was just KILLED by a legendary pokémon..." Erika speaks to Giovanni with no respect.

"Ms Erika, the battling capability of young Hugo far exceeds that of yourself." The Team Rocket boss explains the harsh truth.

"Fuck you! And why should he do your bidding? You'll probably kill his brother anyway, since you're such a sinister bastard."

"Ms Erika, I assure you that I am and always have been, a man of my word."

"Is that what you told my dad right before you murdered him?"

"Murder? I have done nothing of the sort. Your father merely had a little 'accident'. Just like I assured he would if you failed to hold up your end of the bargain."

Erika grits her teeth, glaring at Giovanni.

Hugo looks at Erika and frowns. "Murdering parents is a hobby of Team Rocket's, I suppose."

"Young Hugo, given your current situation, I don't believe you're in the best position to speak against the might of Team Rocket. Especially with the information we recently obtained on your parents."

"My..." Upon hearing those words, Hugo gets an instant headache.

"Parents… my… parents..."

Suddenly, a flashback appears before Hugo. He finds himself in the body of a young baby, not yet of an age where he can walk. He's being carried in a large basket alongside another baby. A woman is running with the basket, weeping uncontrollably as she runs…

"Parents…" Hugo's headache intensifies, briefly becoming unbearably painful.

"GYAAAAAAAAH!" An uncontrollable feeling of anger overwhelms Hugo. He cannot help but attack the person nearest to him. Aggressively, he grabs Erika by the neck and lifts her up with one hand.

"Ack… ga… ka..." Erika's body flails about as her face turns redder and redder. She is suffocating.

"Hu…. Stop… ack..." Erika is unable to speak as her need for oxygen grows greater.

Images flash through Hugo's head. He sees Brock lying on the floor, in agony after being shot. He sees the Pikachu's head that was shot off. He sees the blood of two of his own pokémon flowing across the floor. Then he sees… a young girl smiling at him. It's Leaf!

Hugo's eyes widen as he comes to his senses. He drops Erika on the floor who doesn't even have the strength to stand. She gasps for breath loudly.

"I...I'm sorry. So sorry." Hugo cannot believe what he's just done.

"Interesting… that's some mental scar you possess." Giovanni smiles slightly.

Hugo is too busy staring at his helpless victim. " I… I'm sorry..."

"Y… you twisted fucker!" She manages to say between breaths.

Just then, an explosion can be heard from outside the room.

"Ah, so he's come." Giovanni says calmly.

"TELL ME WHERE HE IS OR DIE!" "WAH! FIRST DOOR ON YOUR RIGHT! DON'T HURT ME!" Can be heard from outside.

As if Hugo wanted to see him again, in an instant the man with the walking stick is standing in the doorway, glaring at the trio inside the room.

"So we meet again, Dan." Giovanni says calmly. "Here to kill me, I presume?"

"You know that in order for my plan to work, the gym leaders of Kanto must die. That includes you, Giovanni."

Hugo and Erika are stunned by this revelation. Erika suddenly realises that she is a target of this horrible man.

"And after I'm done here, that'll be five down!" Hugo knows about Blaine and Sabrina, but who's the fifth victim? Does he think Brock is dead?

"Weezing, smokescreen!" Giovanni quickly summons his pokémon and pulls off the move. The smoke completely covers the room. Hugo and Erika are left helplessly in the smoke, suffering a fit of coughing. Hugo can't see a thing, but he feels a rough hand grab his arm, and he's pulled to what he thinks is the back of the room. Eventually, he gets out of the smoke and finds himself standing in a lift alongside Giovanni. The doors are slowly starting to close.

Hugo can barely see anything through the thick smoke, but he can just barely make out the bodies of Dan and Erika, the latter being helplessly sat on the floor, still not fully recovered from Hugo almost strangling her. The silhouette of Dan walks towards Erika, pistol at the ready. This is the last thing Hugo can make out before the doors are fully closed.

"ERIKA!" Hugo punches the doors on the lift, desperate to get them open again, but with zero success.

"We're moving down now. You're safe. Relax." Giovanni tells him. "I want you alive, you are useful to me."

Hugo is struggling to breathe. Maybe it's claustrophobia from being in a small lift he thinks, but really it's an accumulation of all the recent traumatic events overwhelming him. He breathes heavily, putting his hands on his knees. The whole time, Giovanni merely stands perfectly still with his arms folded.

"You are aware of Dan's plans?" Giovanni asks.

"To kill everyone?" Hugo asks.

Giovanni shakes his head. "The whole picture is unclear, but it certainly revolves around harnessing energy. He wishes to summon something. What exactly that is is unknown. However, we have reports of some sort of mind control device being involved..."

"He has a Giratina..."

"Yes. It's clear he must've spent a long time in Sinnoh and learned much about the lore over there in order to learn how to capture such a beast..."

Giovanni finally loses his distant stare and looks Hugo straight in the eyes.

"You are aware that he wishes to kill all gym leaders?"

Hugo nods. "I am now."

"His next target could likely be your friend, Misty Waterflower." Giovanni explains. "Believe it or not, it would be beneficial to me if you could stop him, or at least stall him until we at Team Rocket learn more of his plans."

"What about the other gym leaders?" Hugo asks.

"There are two others. Lt Surge, and Koga. One with many years of military experience, and the other a master ninja. Both will be more difficult to take down than your young friend." Giovanni's gaze is uncomfortably serious.

"Hugo, what I'd like you to do is act as a bodyguard for your friend Misty. Attend to your business at Vermillion City then make your way to Fuschia. But remember, multiple gym leaders in one place is a bad idea. It's much more difficult to protect two at once."

The lift reaches its destination and the doors begin to open. They are in a large underground tunnel. The entire tunnel is one big road, and there is a car parked at the side.

"Get in. You're driving." The Team Rocket boss orders.

Hugo climbs into the driver's seat while Giovanni takes a seat as a passenger.

"I wish to travel to Saffron City. Take me there."

Hugo begins to drive. He has never driven a car before, and wishes he could have someone more patient in the vehicle with him. If someone had told him his driving teacher would be the leader of a criminal gang, he'd have had trouble believing them.

He makes many mistakes along the way, but Giovanni is surprisingly patient with him, offering advice on his driving when he can.

"We're here." Giovanni says after an hour of driving. "I'm getting out. Straight on for Lavender town, right for Vermilion and left for Cerulean. Goodbye." With that, Giovanni departs the vehicle. This whole thing is weird. Why are there cars in an underground tunnel? Isn't it usually trains? He sees a petrol pump at the side of the road so he stops, refuels, and continues. Another couple of hours of driving pass and he reaches another lift built into the wall at the side of the road. There's a sign above the door that reads 'CERULEAN'. He exits the vehicle, enters the lift and waits as the doors close. A minute later the lift doors open and he wonders out to find that he's inside an old shed. He opens the shed door, which locks automatically as it closes behind him. "Nice hiding spot." He thinks aloud. He looks around and sees that he's less than a mile from the outskirts of the city. A short walk lasting less than half an hour finds him outside Cerulean gym. By this time, the sun is setting.

"Hey! Hugo! How's it going!?" A voice calls. Hugo turns around to see an awesome sight. With a beautiful sunset in the distance, from over the horizon a figure approaches. That figure is pushing themself in a wheelchair, with a beaming smile on their face. It's Brock!

"BROCK!" Hugo cries out with delight. He runs towards his crippled friend… just in time to see him topple forwards out of the wheelchair, hitting his face on the cold, hard pavement.

"I-I guess I'm still getting used to this." Brock groans.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be resting?" Hugo asks as he helps his best friend back into his seat.

"Naw, the nurse gave me the all clear. I'm here to continue my journey with my friends."

"Awesome! Welcome back bud!" Hugo exclaims out of happiness.

The two make their way into the gym.

"So, tell me, what's been going on since I've been gone?" Brock asks.

"Well, it's a long story. I've actually been away from the girls for the past day.

Brock and Hugo make their way into the back of the gym, inviting themselves into Misty's 'home'.

"Hey, everyone! We're back!" Brock calls, receiving no response. "Huh. Where could they all be?"

The boys look around, until they find the girls all sat around the television in the living area, their eyes glued to the screen.

"Ugh, they're watching a chick flick? Think I'm gonna be sick..." whispers Brock as they sneak up behind the girls.

A cringey couple are on screen saying cheesy things to each other. "Oh Delila…." The cringey man says. "I really love y-" The show is cut off as a news bulletin flashes on screen, causing the girls to gasp.

"Breaking news coming to you live from Celadon City."

"In what can only be described as a terrorist attack, the Celadon Gym was today the scene of a horrific blood-fest. Several pokémon were reportedly killed alongside two police officers and the leader of Saffron City's gym, Sabrina. One gym trainer was also hospitalised by a gunshot amid the horror show. The gym leader herself, Erika, has since gone missing as many speculate she may have also been killed. Our Livenews helicopter captured this footage from the skies above the scene."

Video footage is played which gives a birds eye view of Hugo pulling Erika's arm out of the gym and leading her to safety.

"That's Hugo! Dawn shouts at the TV."

"No way! How'd he get there?" Misty asks.

"Um… well, it's a long story." Hugo interrupts their conversation.

"WAAAAAAH!" Misty figuratively jumps out of her skin. "Woah, you… you startled me."

"And look who I brought with me!" Hugo smiles.

"Brock!" Leaf and Dawn exclaim.

"Ugh, you..." Misty groans.

"Hi everyone, I'm back and ready to get some!" He grins in the way only Brock can.

"Hey, Hugo, was that really you on the footage?" As Leaf asks this, Hugo frowns at how skinny she looks.

"Yeah well, let me be honest..."

"What's up?" Asks Misty, folding her arms from within her armchair.

"THERESACRIMINALTRYINGTOKILLEVERYONEANDHESGONNAKILLYOUANDWE'REALLSCREWED!"

"Wow! Slow down and speak in English!" Misty tells him.

Hugo takes a deep breath, and tells them the whole truth of the story, he wanted to leave out the part with Lauren but realises he wouldn't be able to explain why his Rotom is now a Gengar. He does, however, leave out the part where he strangled Erika...

"WEHEY! My boy Hugo got roofied!" Brock bursts into laughter.

Misty gives Brock a slap in the face. "Seriously?! All that and THAT'S the part you care about?!"

"So you're saying he's after Misty next?" Dawn asks, receiving a nod from Hugo.

"...And he doesn't seem to know Brock's alive?" Leaf asks, receiving another nod.

Misty stares into space for a moment. "And they want YOU to be my bodyguard? Hugo nods for a third time.

"Well FUCK I'm dead then!" Misty complains. "Might as well just shoot me now! It'll be me looking after you, not the other way around!"

"Gee, thanks for having so much confidence in me." Hugo pretends to smile.

The whole mood in the room has been killed completely, there are a good ten seconds where nobody says a word. The only noise is the TV that nobody is watching any more. Until Leaf, of all people, breaks the silence.

"So what, you guys are just gonna give up after all of that? Just accept that everyone's gonna die? Do you think I gave up when I had no food or family as a kid?! Huh?!"

After that outburst, Leaf storms off to the guest bedroom she's been sharing with Dawn.

"Wow..." Says Hugo.

"Never seen that side of Leaf before..." Agrees Dawn.

"She's right, y'know. We have things we need to do, let's go and get them done." Brock pipes up.

"Yeah! Let's do it! Off to Vermilion City, and then Fuschia!" Dawn punches the air excitedly.

* * *

It's the following morning, and Hugo is up early as usual. He's just returned from his morning workout and had a shower, then he wonders into the living room and switches on the TV. A detective is being interviewed on the news.

"...It's clear that this man is out to get all of the Gym Leaders. You can tell by the way he's acting. They better all be careful." Says the detective.

The news report shows mugshots of all 8 Gym Leaders; Brock, Misty, Lt Surge, Erika, Koga, Sabrina, Blaine and a silhouette of someone else. There is a red cross over the images of Sabrina and Blaine, there are question marks over Brock, Erika and the faded out silhouette.

"The criminal has already taken down two of Kanto's Gym Leaders, Saffron City's Sabrina and Cinnabar Island's Blaine. Pewter City's Brock was also rumoured to be hospitalised and it is currently unknown whether he survived the attack. Due to the power supplies being destroyed in the Pewter City attack, we are unable to receive a report from Pewter Hospital. Celadon City's Erika is currently missing and the trainers of her gym say they believe her to be dead, as she would never disappear in such a manner. The eight gym leader, whose identity cannot be revealed for legal reasons, is also missing and there's speculation over their safety. The three remaining Gym Leaders are Vermillion City's Lt Surge, Cerulean City's Misty and Fuschia City's Koga, who was set to leave his gym to his daughter and replace the retiring Agatha of the Elite Four. Channel One caught up with Koga earlier this morning." The news reporter explains.

The image changes to Koga, who has an interviewer with him holding a microphone to his mouth. He's standing just outside his Gym.

"I do not fear him." Koga looks determined. "If he wants to come and attack me I'll be more than ready for him. He better not think he can take down me or any of my ninja crew."

"What is your reaction to the deaths of some of your fellow Gym Leaders?" Asks the interviewer.

"Of course I am saddened by the recent tragic events, but I have full confidence that myself and the Lieutenant will be able to combine our military and ninja experience to take down this crook."

"And what about the rumours that this criminal is currently on his way to attack Cerulean's City's Misty Waterflower?"

"I am sure that the Cerulean police will be on top of everything, but I believe that the best course of action for Ms Waterflower will be to flee the city. She can feel free to come to Fuschia where I will offer her my full support and we can deal with this crisis together."

"Mr Koga, thank you for your time." The interviewer ends the interview.

"Wow!" Comments Brock. Hugo hadn't noticed him entering the room. "How am I STILL listed as the official Gym leader? I applied to get it changed to Forrest over a week ago!"

"Wait, you only just applied a week ago? You've barely been at your gym the past four years!" Hugo replies, confused.

"Yeah, well, Forrest wasn't old enough to be an official leader at first so he had to act as the temporary leader, then when he was old enough, I wasn't there to fill out all the paper work, and now I've finally had the chance to do it, I guess the Indigo League have other things on their minds."

"Other things? Understatement of the year!" Hugo blurts out, getting a chuckle from Brock.

The girls all make their way into the room, Dawn now able to walk normally again. Leaf also seems to have cheered up, even if she's still ridiculously thin. As the boys notice them, Hugo frantically reaches for the TV remote and switches off the news before Misty sees anything.

"Let's go boys! We're out of here!" Misty tells them, and the gang make their way out of the gym to start their next journey.

The gang receive quite a surprise when there are swarms of police officers patrolling the streets. Officer Jenny is among them, and she approaches the group.

"Good morning, Ms Waterflower. I'm terribly sorry, but for your safety we're going to have to ask you to remain in the Gym until further notice."

Misty frowns. "I'm sorry. I have somewhere I really need to be..."

Officer Jenny looks unprepared to back down. "Ms Waterflower, I am sorry, but I must insist that you remain in the Gym.

"Make me." Misty folds her arms.

"Very well then. Boys!" Jenny claps her hands above her head, and two 6 foot 5 bodyguards appear, muscles bulging out of their tattoo-covered arms. They wear vests, have very short hair and wear sunglasses to make themselves appear as intimidating as possible. Both appear to be in their mid thirties. Most people would have to back down to such characters, but these two giants are still smaller than Hugo.

"This is Greg and this is Brett. They will be your bodyguards while you stay in the Gym." Jenny states confidently.

"Yeah right." Hugo snorts in defiance, putting himself in-between the two guys and Misty.

"I must warn you, they are trained to exert force if they encounter resistance." Warns Jenny.

"Really? Is that why they look so frightened?" Hugo asks with a smug grin.

"Please step aside sir." Brett warns.

"Make me."

On cue, Greg swings his fist in an attempt to punch Hugo's stomach. Being younger and faster, Hugo is able to grab Greg's fist, blocking the attack. He raises his leg, giving Greg a hard kick to the balls. The tough guy falls to his knees, holding his crotch and a tear dripping from his eye down his now red cheeks.

"You're trying to use force on ME? Really?" Hugo asks. Brett seems to have learned his lesson, and takes a step back.

"Wow..." Jenny is almost speechless, until she reasserts herself. "Okay, it appears that you have sufficient muscle to protect yourself." She steps up very close to Hugo, who has to look directly down to meet her eyes.

"You better not leave Ms Waterflower unsupervised at any time, or her death will be considered an act of manslaughter by you." She tells him quietly.

"Come on boys, move out." Jenny claps her hands above her head again and she's followed by Brett, along with Gregg who is limping and still holding his crotch.

"Hey, you look like that Pewter Gym leader who got killed." Jenny comments as she walks past Brock.

"Well that was interesting." Dawn says after they're gone.

"Hey Mist." Says Hugo.

"What?" Misty asks.

"Try not to die."

"Really? What great advice, because I was planning on being brutally slaughtered."

"WATCHOUTCOMINGTHROUGH! OOF!"

Just then, a young boy comes sprinting past. He bumps into Dawn, knocking her over completely.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry. I really must watch where I'm going."

"Hey, if it isn't Wally." Brock grins.

"Oh… oh no. What happened to you?" Wally asks Brock, instantly forgetting about Dawn, who looks annoyed.

"Ah… don't worry about me. I'm fine. How are you?" Brock asks.

"Well… I'm on a mission." Wally responds, filled with excitement.

"Huh? What sort of mission?" Brock is intrigued.

"I'm going to the power plant." Wally says with a huge grin on his face.

"The whatsitnow?" Brock asks.

"The power plant." Misty tells him. "Just east of here. Apparently Zapdos really likes it there."

"Zapdos?! Wally, you're crazy!" Hugo frowns.

Wally shakes his head. "No I'm not. I'm ready to take down Zapdos and capture it for my team."

The gang look at each other, trying not to laugh. Dawn, however, who has already decided she dislikes this boy, can't help but burst into laughter.

"It's not funny! I'll show you! Let's battle! I want revenge for last time!"

"Sure, why not?" Hugo agrees. "I have a new pokémon I'd like to debut anyway."

Moments later, they've found a field around the eastern outskirts of the city. Wally stands opposite Hugo on their grassy battlefield. Brock and the girls are at the side, ready to witness a one sided battle.

"Go Kirlia!" Wally gives out his battle cry as he summons his trusted partner.

Hugo realises this will be interesting. Ghost is strong against psychic, psychic is strong against poison, and poison is strong against fairy.

"Gengar!" He summons his new poison/ghost type.

"Come on Kirlia, use confusion!" The attack hits, causing Gengar to involuntarily take a few steps back.

"Sludge wave." Gengar seems very excited for battle, and puts maximum effort into launching a large quantity of poison towards Kirlia, who barely manages to dodge.

"Again, confu-" "Perfect! Finish with shadow ball!" With reflexes vastly superior to wally, Hugo gets in first with a powerful, super effective attack. It hits Kirlia directly. Kirlia is flung back, flying into its trainer in the process, knocking them both over and giving them bruises.

"Oh, poor Wally." Brock frowns. "Hugo should've taken it easy..."

"Uh oh… Wally, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." Hugo begins, about to return Gengar and help his opponent to his feet.

"WAIT!" Wally surprises everyone with this rallying cry. "It's not over yet!" Wally springs to his feet, bruises visible all over his body. "Kirlia, get up and use magical leaf!" Even his voice sounds tired, but impressively, his rallying cry is enough to spur on Kirlia, who makes it to its feet.

Taken completely by surprise, Gengar recieves a critical hit from magical leaf. Unfortunately, the type match-up reduces the damage dealt.

"Wow." Hugo is stunned, unable to react quickly.

"Now! Confusion again!" Another psychic attack hit Gengar, who clearly feels it. The ghost looks to be in pain.

"Again! Don't let them rest!" The passion is very apparent in Wally's cries.

Another confusion attack is attempted, but this time Hugo and Gengar are ready for it.

"Screw it. Use hyper beam." Gengar leaps to the side, simultaneously shooting beams from its eyes. This time, Kirlia is flung almost twice as far and when it hits the ground there's no doubt that it can no longer battle.

Hugo and Gengar have emerged victorious, but Gengar has been battered, sustaining heavy damage. The ghost type looks happy to have won, but at the same time its breath is heavy due to fatigue.

The whole gang are surprised by Wally's significant improvement in such a short time.

"I have to admit..." Brock begins, pushing his wheelchair towards Wally. "I wasn't expecting so much fight from you there."

"You had Hugo panicking for sure." Adds Misty.

"Pfft..." Dawn is unimpressed. "I Think he was just giving the kid a chance..."

"Hey there Wally..." Hugo walks towards him with a smile. Wally look distraught as he's knelt at the ground, nursing his fallen Kirlia.

"Keep at it kid." You're not bad." Wally turns around and looks up at Hugo's towering figure. He gives a weak smile. The pair shake hands and suddenly Wally bursts into life, leaping to his feet while returning Kirlia to its comfortably encapsulating ball.

"Thank you. I'll beat you next time though." Wally nods confidently, then dashes off towards the east.

"Have fun catching Zapdos!" Hugo jokes as Wally disappears into the distance.

"Pfft. Catch Zapdos? Yeah right!" Grins Misty.

"Snobby little brat..." Dawn mutters under her breath, folding her arms.

"Well, that was fun." Grins Brock. "Who agrees we get going now?"

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

It's a peaceful Saturday morning in the Johto region, and many of the citizens of Johto's various towns and cities are looking forward to enjoying their relaxing weekends. None more so than Violet City's Falkner.

"Ah, what fine weather. I'm looking forward to today." Falkner stretches his arms in a relaxed yawn.

All of a sudden, seemingly out of thin air, three men appear. They possess long white hair, are pretty muscular and are dressed like ninjas. Their costume covers their mouths and foreheads, with a horizontal gap for their eyes. Their muscular chests and arms are on display too.

Two members of the trio grab Falkner, one at each arm, while the third, stood a couple of feet away, pulls out a pistol, pointing it in Falkner's face.

"...Come..." The man holding the gun tells him.

"Wh-what's going on?!" Falkner wonders aloud, surprised by these men. "Wh-who are you?!"

"You'll find out… let's go..." The same member of the trio replies, his Unovan accent obvious, even with his voice slightly muffled by his costume.


	9. Chapter 9

"Oy, watch where you're going!" Exclaims Dawn.

"Who's standing on my foot?!" Asks Hugo.

"WHERE ARE WE?!" Screams Misty.

"I don't know which was more stupid..." Groans Brock. "Forgetting to bring any pokémon that know flash, or not turning back when we realised we'd forgotten!"

The gang are currently stumbling around Rock Tunnel. It's very dark, and none of them can tell where they're going. After a while, the exit appears…

"Get in! Finally! We made it! I'm gonna make a complaint to the Kanto council. That place really needs wheelchair access..." Brock complains. He stops next to a signpost which reads 'Lavender Town 5 miles'.

Misty doesn't look happy. "Let's put that place behind us. Come on- AW SHIT!" Brock and Misty look around, it turns out they're alone. They've managed to lose the rest of the gang in the darkness of the cave.

"Reckon we go look for them?" Misty asks, doubtfully.

"No point. Would be harder than finding a Weedle in a haystack. All we can do is wait here."

* * *

"FINALLY! The exit! Now remind me why we couldn't head south past the day care centre to reach Vermillion." Dawn complains.

"The old underground tunnel got destroyed by gangs of kids..." Hugo explains for the 9th time.

"Ah, it feels good to- NO WAY! YOU ARE TAKING THE PISS!" Dawn stops in her tracks, looking horrified.

"What's up Da- OH CRAP!"

Dawn and Hugo realise they've ended up back where they started.

"Your fault, idiot!" Dawn punches Hugo in the stomach. "I told you to turn right, not left!"

"Oh, I'm sure we'd have had NO trouble finding our way if we'd all listened to Miss Berlitz the queen of directions!"

Dawn looks around, suddenly looking less angry and more worried.

"Um, Hugo…?"

"Apology NOT accepted! That hurt!"

"That's not what I'm on about… where is everyone?"

The pair look around, realising they've somehow split from the rest of the group.

"Y'know, I was wondering why Misty went suspiciously quiet..." Hugo slaps his knee, regretting not making sure everyone was together.

"I guess we've gotta go back in..." Dawn sighs.

"I REALLY hope Brock's looking after Leaf..." Hugo frowns as he follows Dawn back inside.

* * *

"Um… hello?! Anyone?!"

Leaf is helplessly lost. And scared. And alone. It's pitch black. She can't even see her hand in front of her face.

"Stay calm. You can do this. You can do this." She quietly mutters to herself.

After some stumbling around, she begins to see what appears to be an exit in the distance. Hoping Hugo and co. will be awaiting her there, Leaf quickens her pace in an attempt to be reunited with friends.

Turns out the light Leaf saw was merely the sun shining through a small hole in some rocks. Most people would have no chance of fitting through such a hole, but Leaf's fragile and skinny body has no trouble squeezing beneath the cracks. She crawls out, finding herself in a small, enclosed field. Why does it feel so warm?

Leaf's eyes widen as she takes in the sight before her. She's standing at the edge of a small, roughly circular field. Tall cliffs completely enclose the field. In the centre, there's a pool of lava with a very small chunk of land in the centre of the lava pool. Upon the land is a tall tree that looks similar to an oak tree. Its roots stem from within the lava, giving the tree a unique red glow. Sleeping upon the top of the tree is a big bird with wings of fire.

"Could it be..." Leaf whispers quietly to herself.

All of a sudden, the fiery bird pokémon opens one eye. Perhaps it has sensed Leaf's presence. In one swift movement, it stands up upon the tree and spreads its huge wings. "TREEEEEES!" It cries in a high pitch.

"GAH! Help me!" Leaf is so frightened, she reaches for her pokéball. "Staravia, help!"

"Ravia!" Leaf's bird cries. Staravia is quite chubby, since Leaf usually gives almost all of her food to it.

The overweight flying type doesn't seem too fazed by the presence of a legendary pokémon.

The fire and flying type gives Staravia an intimidating glare, and swoops down from its tree, swooping over the lava pit and landing upon the grassy field, inches away from Staravia. The height difference is very visible, yet the two pokémon begin to engage in a lengthy conversation.

"Ravia ravia! Starrrrrrravia! Ravia star star!"

"TREEEEEEES!"

It goes on like this for well over a minute, all the while Leaf is frozen on the spot, unable to move an inch due to trembling in fear.

Eventually, both flying types turn and stare at Leaf, only intensifying her level of fear.

Then, in a shocking move, the fire and flying type legendary pokémon slowly walks over to Leaf. It lowers its wing in front of her, as if gesturing for her to climb on its body. Leaf hesitates for a long moment, but eventually does as the pokémon wishes. The moment she's upon its back, the mighty pheonix wastes no time in soaring into the skies.

Leaf's bottom feels hot, and she begins to sweat, all due to the heat radiated off this beast.

They reach a scary height as Staravia flies behind them, although much slower and lower.

They get so high, Leaf can see both entrances to Rock Tunnel. She sees Lavender Town in the distance, as well as Cerulean City, despite the two locations being very far apart.

Leaf holds on tight to the fire type, beginning to increase her trust in it.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Rock Tunnell...

"It's left here! I'm sure!" Hugo insists.

"Believe it or not, I think you're right this time!" Agrees Dawn.

"No! I said left! Not right!"

"No, I meant YOU are be right!"

"What? You think we should go right? Well I thought it was left, but okay."

"No you idiot! You are right to go left!"

Well which one is it?! Right or left?! Make your mind up!"

All of a sudden, very bright lights begin to flash and the ground begins to shake.

"Wh-what's going on?!" Shouts Dawn, who can barely be heard over the sound of the sudden earthquake.

"Beats me!" Hugo shouts back as the flashing and shaking intensifies.

All of a sudden, everything gets REALLY bright as Hugo and Dawn are seemingly teleported somewhere.

* * *

They appear in what appears to be a room filled with super advanced technology. Both men and women in black suits are busy at work.

"Success!" One woman at a computer cheers.

Hugo is a little embarrassed when he sees that he'd started holding Dawn's hand when the commotion begins. Or was it her who grabbed his? He quickly lets go before she seems to notice.

"Quick! Hit him!"

There is a stool in front of the spot where Hugo appeared. Very quickly, a muscular man of roughly average height comes sprinting towards him. He leaps off the stool and gives Hugo a mean right hook punch to the face. It REALLY hurts. The man was wearing a steel glove with spikes on. Hugo collapses to the floor as blood streams from his cheek.

Upon realising what's going on, Dawn looks at Hugo in fear and screams very loud.

"Quick! Cuff them both!" Before they can react, both Hugo and Dawn are wearing sturdy handcuffs.

"WHAT THE HELL?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Dawn yells in defiance. "LET US GO!"

"Ma'am, I'm sorry, we cannot." Explains one of the men in a black suit. "Not you, or your boyfriend."

"What?! Boyfriend! Yeah right!"

There are around thirty men and women crowding around Hugo and Dawn. The youngest, a spotty faced teenage boy, pulls out some sort of scanner. He scans Dawn with some red beam of light, then turns to the woman stood next to him.

"Huh. Embarrassment. So she DOES like him?"

"This is NOT the sort of crap you were trained to use the scanners for!" The woman yells angrily.

The boy seems to ignore her. He scans Hugo, then scans himself."Woah! It says 'Fuck you! What the hell?! This giant dude wants to bone me? He doesn't look gay!"

"NO!" The woman stomps her foot. "It means he wants to fuck you up! LOOK OUT!"

"GYAAAAH!" Right on cue, Hugo begins his RAMPAGE. He drop-kicks the man nearest to him. Several of the uniformed people draw a gun out of their pockets. Luckily, Hugo is one step ahead. He knows a trick, due to his laziness. He shakes his hips, and knocks a pokéball off his belt. "RAAAAAAA!" Tyranitar appears, with lightning reflexes it immediately knows what to do. It picks up Hugo with one arm, and Dawn with the other. The two of them sit on its shoulders while the uniformed people open fire. Any bullets heading towards Dawn or Hugo Tyranitar blocks with its fists. As rounds of ammo bounce harmlessly off its rock-hard skin, it stomps its way through the room, smashing up desks and computers as it goes. More and more of the workers give up and run away, until there's nobody left. By this point, Hugo has managed to knock Shinx's ball off his belt, jumping off Tyranitar's shoulder onto the floor. A brief but powerful flamethrower is all that's needed to dispose of the chains binding Hugo's arms together as part of the handcuffs. Seconds later, Dawn is free too, and the pair stand in the remains of what was moments ago a high tech lab.

"Idiots." Hugo remarks, as he swings open the double doors the workers had just fleed through. There's some stairs leading downwards.

"Looks like we're in their base..." Hugo frowns.

"Whose base? What's going on?!" Dawn panicks.

Hugo fans his arms downwards, indicating to calm down. "Relax. Leaf told me all she knew about these guys… which wasn't much."

"Huh?" Dawn doesn't understand.

"This is Leaf's Mother's criminal gang. They brought us here purposely. They know we've been travelling with Leaf."

"What? How do they know that?"

"Beats me. But I'm guessing we're about to find out."

A small hole opens in the corner of the ceiling, and a television screen is lowered via machine onto the wall in front of Dawn and Hugo.

"Don't trust or believe anything." Hugo warns.

A woman in her 50's appears on the screen. She's sat at a desk, stroking one of those annoying cat things from Sinnoh. A Glameow, apparently. She's blonde, with an almost perfectly horizontal scar on her left cheek. Her smile is very confident.

"We meet at last, Hugo and Dawn. I'm Sarah, or as you may know me, Leaf's mother."

Dawn looks nervous and stays silent. She twiddles her thumbs, without even realising it she shuffles slightly closer to Hugo.

"What do you want?" Hugo asks.

"To talk." Sarah explains.

"Of course! They always want to talk! What else would they want, these gangsters?"

"Please, think of me not as a gangster, but as a brave leader."

"Whatever."

"Anyway, it has come to my attention that you've been travelling a fair distance in order to find me, correct?"

Hugo and Dawn nod.

"Well I saved you the trouble, and brought you here myself."

"Look, Leaf is-"

"Ill? Mad? Insane? Which one were you gonna use? 'Cause all three are fucking true!"

"She needs help. You need to help her."

"ME? When YOU were the one who did this to her?! Making her feel guilty about EATING of all things! What a selfish and horrible young man!"

Hugo is very confused.

"Oh, wondering how I know this are we? Haven't you seen? Using the incredibly intellectual DNA of a mega Alakazam, my company..."

"Gang..."

"Ahem. My COMPANY have developed a scanner that can read people's emotions either in general or towards a specific person. Now, an employee of mine has been secretly following you lot for a while. And it seems MY DAUGHTER is ill because of YOU!"

"Not that you'd care."

"I came all the way back to that damn freezing cold village to let my little girl know that I'd chosen her as my successor, and what do I find? She's run away. Because of YOU!" Sarah looks really pissed off, pointing an accusing finger at Hugo.

"Now, you know what I'm gonna do to get my own back?"

Hugo sighs. "Ooh, let me guess. Kill me? Torture me? Take me prisoner?"

"You took the girl I care most about. So I'm gonna take the girl YOU care most about!"

Suddenly, a metal cage door is lowered into the space between Hugo and Dawn and the exit, effectively trapping them. At the same time, the television screen slowly begins to raise back into the ceiling.

"By the way, how'd you like our actor's performances earlier? Nothing like filling the enemy with a sense of overconfidence. Complete with fake computers and plastic bullets." As she finishes speaking, the screen is switched off as the small gap in the ceiling is closed electronically.

"Wait, what-" Hugo realises just how smart this woman is. She's completely outwitted him, and he's fallen into her trap with ease.

"Hugo, what's going on? I don't like this..."

Poor Dawn hasn't been in this situation before, and she looks pale from fear.

Before Hugo has the chance to say anything back, he sees a familiar sight that he really REALLY didn't want to see ever again. One of those strange looking balls of energy that Giovanni used back in Viridian City. The one that emitted mind controlling waves.

"Tyrainitar, ret-"

Hugo attempts to get his rock and dark type safely back in its ball, but the waves being emitted by the energy ball are jamming the pokéball's energy transmission.

"Oooh, I don't feel so good..." Dawn keels over, clutching her stomach.

"RAAAA!" Tyranitar looks like its in pain, closing its eyes and putting its hands over its ears.

"Quick, think Hugo, think..." How do you destroy a ball of energy? Hugo has no idea, but he's gonna try anyway.

"Shinx! Flamethrower!"

Shinx breathes powerful flames, but they merely go through it.

"Damn it! It's never that easy, is it?"

"Nyaaaaaaah!" Dawn groans in pain.

"Must… resist… NYAH!"

Dawn's eyes begin to glow red, as she glares directly at Hugo.

"Ugh… for the glory of Team Oblivion, I have to fight you, you sexy beast."

"Wait, what..."

"You may be hot as hell, but I have to take you down."

With her eyes still glowing red, Dawn gives Hugo a flirty smile.

"This is the weirdest thing ever..."

"RAAAAAAAAAAA!" Now Tyranitar's eyes are glowing red too.

"Well, here we go Shinx, LET'S DO THIS!"

"Now Tyranitar will listen to me, babe!"

"What did you just call me?"

"Sorry babe, can't hear you over the sound of ME ABOUT TO KICK YOUR ARSE! Tyranitar, use stone edge!"

"Huh, well me and Shinx have been practising some brand new moves Shinx can't normally learn. Quick, double team!"

Shinx rapidly multiplies itself so fifteen shinx sorround Tyranitar, whose attack misses.

"Aw, babe, that's so sweet! NOW USE EARTHQUAKE!" The attack instantly eliminates all of Shinx's copies, while the real one leaps high into the air.

"Dawn, what the hell? Snap out of this! And Shinx, go for karate chop!"

In an impressive move, Shinx takes advantage of its messeed up moveset by using a fighting type move on Tyranitar. The rock and dark type is taken by surprise and feels the BURN.

"NOOOO! Don't do this Hugo! Don't beat me! If you beat me, that lady might hurt me-"

Hugo pauses for a moment, staring into space.

"You know, I always had the biggest crush on you, babe. Now, please let me win. Use hyper beam!"

Hugo is unable to react as Tyranitar hits Shinx with a powerful beam out of its eyes.

"Woooo! After this is all over, let's go out for dinner somewhere, just you and-" "ENOUGH!" Dawn's sentence is cut off by Hugo, who sounds pissed off.

"Nice act, but I've got you all figured out now."

"Huh? Sweetie, what do you mean?" Dawn looks confused and sounds nervous.

"Shinx, use karate chop again, but change your target!" To Dawn's surprise, Hugo points directly at her.

"Shiiiiiiiiiiinx!" With complete trust in its trainer, Shinx launches an all out attack on Dawn.

"WAAAAAH! What are you-ZOOOOOOOOR!"

The instant Shinx's attack lands, Zorua's disguise is broken, no longer possessing the strength to disguise itself as Dawn, it falls to the ground, fainted.

Hugo ia not done there, he climbs upon Tyranitar's back, who is still recovering from hyper beam, sits on its shoulder and yells as loud as his lungs will allow into its ear.

"TYRANITAR!" He screams louder than he's ever screamed before.

"RAAAAAA!" The armour pokémon's reaction is to fling Hugo off its shoulder. It seems to have worked though. The red glowing eyes are gone.

"Welcome back buddy." Hugo smiles. "Sorry for shouting in your ear. Now get some rest." Tyranitar is returned to its pokéball.

The television screen has been lowered back onto the wall, Sarah's face appears on it once again.

"I must admit it, you're smarter than you look. According to my research team, you shouldn't have ever heard of a Zorua!" Sarah gives a sarcastic applause.

Hugo and Shinx glare up at the screen. "A what?" Hugo asks, clueless.

"Zorua, from the Unova region."

"From the oven region? Never heard of it!"

"No, from the Unova region! It's a faraway land, has over one hundred and fifty exclusive species of pokémon. For a while, pokémon from outside the region didn't exist there."

"Sounds like a boring place… I bet some of the pokémon look really stupid too. Like, an ice cream cone or a pile of rubbish. Ha! Imagine that!"

"Ahem… anyway. You're probably wondering what we did with Dawn."

"Oh, well, I guess so."

"Don't worry. She's safe..."

"Cool. So I'll leave th-"

"...For now."

Hugo rolls his eyes. "Ugh! There's always a catch! What do you want?"

"I want my daughter."

Hugo sighs. "So what you're saying is, in order to free my friend who's currently held captive, you want me to turn in my friend so you can hold them captive. Sounds like a great idea!"

"LET ME FINISH YOU ANNOYING BRAT!… Ahem. Excuse me. I want to speak with her. That is all."

"Yeah, sure..."

"Do as I ask, or your friend gets it."

"Cool. I'll do it."

"Excellent. The exit is now opening for you. You must take the stairs leading UP in order to exit. DO NOT take the stairs leading down."

Hugo nods, makes his way to the exit, and instantly dashes down the stairs.

"I've got a better idea, bitch!" He mutters to himself as he and Shinx run as fast as they can down the stairs.

* * *

Back in the skies, Leaf is still riding on the pheonix pokémon. They are now flying over the sea, and beginning to descend. The pheonix pokémon dives down at an incredible speed, landing on a small rock. When it lands it simply sits down, enabling Leaf to easily climb off its back. Staravia is nowhere in sight, but hopefully it's somewhere safe. The rock, while not wide or long, is high up, a good thirty or forty metres above sea level. There are powerful waves crashing against the sides.

"Treeeees!" The pheonix pokémon gestures with its head towards the back of the small rock. There's a narrow staircase leading into a cavern. The bird would not fit through.

"Um… ok. Thanks for the lift!" Leaf says nervously. She slowly and cautiously makes her way down the stairs, her weak legs trembling with fear of this unknown location.

"Oooooh, I really wish Hugo was here."

The stairs lead into a dark cave. Or at least, it appears that way at first glance. At second glance, though, Leaf can see a faint light in the distance. She makes her way through the darkness, finding that nothing seems to be there besides rock. As she gets closer, she sees that the light is coming from a single lantern. An unfamiliar pokémon is levitating beside it. It appears to be sleeping.

"Um… hello." Leaf says to the pokémon. "Can you hear me?"

There is no response.

"Um… I think I was sent to you. Maybe you know why?"

The sleeping pokémon is short, white and humanoid with short stubby legs. On its head is an almost star shaped yellow structure with three blue tags hanging off.

As if compelled by a mysterious power, Leaf realises what she must do. So closes her eyes, puts her hands together at her chest, and think about what she truly desires. Before she knows it, a light begins to flash. "WAAAAA!" Leaf wails.

* * *

Hugo's plan to storm the base isn't going so well. He's a bit lost. He runs aimlessly around the base, searching many rooms. The majority are accommodation for the gang members who live here. Some are research rooms. He stumbles into one lab, and an automatic door locks him in as soon as he and Shinx enter. There is only one other person in this room, a woman with dark plum hair.

"Hello Hugo."

"Um...hi?"

"I am Professor Ivy. I once worked with your friend Brock. Please, take a seat."

Hugo might be surprised by a total stranger seemingly knowing lots about him, but it's happened so much lately, he doesn't even bother to ask how any more. The whole time she speaks, professor Ivy is sat at a desk with her eyes glued to a computer screen, typing away at a keyboard.

"Um… don't suppose you could let me out?"

"Not yet. We need to talk first."

The professor spends another moment typing away at her keyboard, until at last she swivels her chair to face Hugo.

"Before you can go anywhere, I want to study your Shinx."

"Not gonna happen. We need to get out now." Hugo taps his feet impatiently as he spins around on his chair. Shinx looks ready to attack the professor.

"Thought you'd say that. Okay, I have a phone call to make. Hang on."

Hugo is tempted to just attack this woman, but he figures he might be trapped here for good if he does.

"Here we are." Ivy's computer obviously has phone calling capabilities too, on her screen now appears Brock's face.

"Hello? Who is- WAAAAAAAH!" The screen is zoomed in on Brock with only the sky to be seen behind him, so you can't tell where he is, but he looks shocked to see Ivy.

"Hello Brock." She smiles.

"I don't want to speak with you." Brock replies, about to put his phone down.

"I have Hugo." She grins.

Brock hesitates for a moment, then notices Hugo in the background.

"Tell him it's okay for me to do some tests on his Shinx."

Brock looks incredibly uncomfortable, sweat visible on his face.

"Yeah, buddy, she would never hurt your Shinx. It's fine." He says with little confidence.

"What?!" Hugo is confused as to why Brock is acting so strange.

"Look, I don't want to talk about it, but you can trust Ivy. I have to go. Wherever you are, hurry back to us. We'll wait for you in Lavender Town."

The phone call is cut off.

"See? Your best friend says it's fine."

"Fine..." Hugo reluctantly agrees. "What type of test?"

"It's simple. I want to give it a thorough scan. It will cause it some minor discomfort. Nothing more."

Hugo kneels down beside his partner.

"Okay buddy, if you feel anything wrong with this at all, give me a signal and Tyranitar will destroy this place." "Shiiiiinx" The electric type doesn't seem bothered, and is happy to participate if it means they can get out of here.

"I just need it to stand in that machine over there for about two minutes. Then I can get a complete analysis."

"Then we can leave?"

"Yes. I promise."

Shinx goes into the small pod-like machine. A green light glows on and off for the next two minutes, then it stops.

"Okay, it's all done. How was it Shinx?"

"Shiiiiinx!" The electric type looks like it found the sensation fairly enjoyable.

Ivy sits back at her computer screen. "Now for the results… ooh. Oh my. This is interesting. It appears there is something serious to look at here."

"Serious?" Hugo is interested now.

"Yes. Very much so. Shinx has a tumour on its brain."

"A tumour? Like, one that could kill it?"

"Hmm… difficult to say. You see, with Shinx being an electric type, the activity level of its brain's electrical impulses is much higher than for a person or any other pokémon type. In other words, its brain is so powerful, it seems to not only be preventing the tumour from growing further, but also using its size as additional space to store extra information a Shinx couldn't normally be capable of storing – oh my! That's it! What an incredible scientific breakthrough! Hugo! This is revolutionary!"

Hugo scratches his head. "So what you're saying is Shinx has a brain tumour, and that's enabling it to learn lots of different, unique moves?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying! Your Shinx truly is one-of-a-kind!"

"Hmm..." Hugo stares into space for a moment.

"If Shinx has a tumour, could that have been gained from..."

"If you're wondering about your own brain, now that I know the target area of the scan, I can scan you using my portable scanner. It should only take a moment."

"Sure. Go ahead."

Professor Ivy uses her portable scanner (which looks like a TV remote) to shoot some green lights at Hugo. She presses some buttons and an image pops up on her computer screen. It's an image of Hugo's brain, except there's a bulgy red patch at the side.

"That's..." Hugo stutters.

"I am afraid your worst fears are confirmed. There is indeed a tumour on YOUR brain too."

"But… it can't..."

"It appears to be growing slowly. It is what we in the science world call a benign tumour. It is, however, at risk of growing faster in the near future, we'd call this a malignant tumour."

"Thanks for the science lesson… so I'm dying..."

"Don't worry. This type of tumour is treatable...but..."

"There's always a catch..."

"I don't believe you'll be able to find that sort of treatment available at an affordable price here in Kanto. The closest place I'm aware of that could give you some treatment is Lumiose City."

"Where?"

"In the Kalos region."

Hugo's eyes widen in surprise.

"Uh oh. When will I find the time to go to Kalos?"

Professor Ivy frowns. "Hugo, I highly recommend that you postpone whatever you're doing and head to Kalos to seek immediate treatment. This is a very serious condition."

"Don't suppose you know the side effects of a tumour caused by having your memory distorted?"

"I don't, but I imagine that, as your tumour grows, it could lead to some very strange behaviour patterns. Especially if somebody were to talk about a memory that is being suppressed by your tumour."

Hugo has a sudden flashback. He thinks about Erika, and how he involuntarily almost choked her to death in the heat of the moment.

"This is not good..." Hugo rests his elbows at Ivy's desk, with his chin resting on his hands.

"Hugo, I must assure you that I am not a bad person. I have been helping out Sarah and her gang in exchange for using her facilities, as they truly are state-of-the-art. In fact, I can give you directions to find Dawn and get out of here."

"Really? That would be great!"

"Yes, but remember, a lot of research has been done on you around here. Everyone knows all about you and will do their best to outsmart you at every opportunity."

"No need to worry, I've got this." Hugo winks.

"I'm sorry for forcing you to participate in my research, Hugo. But I knew this was a once In a lifetime opportunity, so I did what I had to do." Ivy says as she unlocks the door.

"I understand. Thanks for your help!" With that, Hugo dashes off… or not.

"WE'VE GOT YOU NOW!"

Dozens of members of Team Oblivion are waiting for Hugo as he exits the room. Dawn is with them, this time presumably the real Dawn, looking miserable, her hands stuck in handcuffs at the other end of the corridor. Every one of the twelve or so criminals with black suits that face Hugo are pointing a gun at him.

Hugo raises his arms towards the ceiling in surrender. Things look bad. When all of a sudden...

FLASH!

In an instant, Hugo finds that he is once again teleported. He looks around. He is now standing on… the roof of a tall tower? He peers over the edge of the roof… yikes! It's so high up they're above the clouds! Standing (and sitting) beside him are Misty, Brock, Dawn and Leaf. The latter being the only one who doesn't look really confused.

"Wh-where are we?" Brock asks, who has been transported here along with his wheelchair.

"Beats me. But it can't be worse than where I just was!" Dawn exclaims.

"OVER THERE!" Leaf yells, in an uncharacteristic display of confidence. "WE HAVE TO STOP HIM!"

At the other side of the roof, a tall man and a Snorlax have their backs to the group.

"OH MIGHTY RAYQUAZA! ACCEPT MY HUMAN SACRIFICE AND REVEAL YOURSELF!"

It's Dan! And at the edge of the roof, with their arms and legs chained to a post… it's Erika!?

"MRRRF! MRRRF!" Erika mumbles, her mouth taped shut.

"What the..." Hugo is confused.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" A deafening cry can be heard from above.

"Oh shit, things are about to turn nasty!" Brock comments.

"Quick, let's stop him!" Misty adds.

"CROAGUNK!" Brock launches his companion. "PIPLUP!" Dawn follows suit. "GYARADOS!" Misty is next. "SHINX!" Hugo comes fourth. "STARAVIA!" Leaf throws in her companion too, sounding the most confident out of anyone.

"ATTACK!" All five pokémon launch attacks simultaneously. Piplup uses bubble beam. Gyarados uses hydro pump. Croagunk uses poison jab. Shinx uses thunder. Staravia uses aerial ace.

BAM! This surprise attack hits Snorlax REALLY hard, who couldn't hear a thing due to a constant thunderous sound coming from above.

"WHAT IS THIS-" Dan turns around, clearly pissed off.

"NOW! GO!" Brock yells. In his wheelchair, he charges towards Dan. As he gets near him, he throws his body at him, knocking him to the floor. Hugo sprints past them at lightning pace. The thunderous sound is now almost unbearably loud.

"RAAAAAAAAAAY!" Is the scream from above.

Hugo puts every ounce of energy into his sprint. He dives towards Erika, rugby tackling her. Within half a second of him pushing her out of the way, an unbelievably powerful bean of light, appearing to be a hyper beam attack, obliterates the spot where Erika had just been. Unfortunately for Hugo and Erika, Hugo is unable to halt his momentum, and the pair fall off the top of the tower. With his arms still wrapped around Erika from tackling her, Hugo shuts his eyes as they fall, hoping for a miracle. Which is exactly what he gets!

FLASH!

Hugo opens his eyes to find that he is now on solid ground. He looks around to see the whole gang still there – Brock, Misty, Dawn and Leaf. They are all laughing at him… oops. He's still got his arms around Erika, so it looks like he's hugging her.

"YUCK!" Hugo lets go immediately. Erika is now free of restraints, able to walk and talk as normal.

"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" She screams in a panic reaction.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?! I'M FUCKING TERRIFIED!"

Erika is still shaken up by what just happened, as the rest of the gang look around. Somehow, after everything that just happened, they have ended up at the exit of Rock Tunnel, the place they'd originally been trying to meet up. It's now late and the sun has set.

"Okay, would somebody like to explain exactly WHAT is going on?" Misty asks.

"Some sort of miracle?" Dawn wonders, also free of the cuffs that she wore a moment ago.

"Well that was certainly interesting..." Brock chuckles.

Leaf wears a cheerful grin on her face, catching everyone's attention.

"Leaf!" Brock exclaims. "You know what just happened?"

"Well, um..." Leaf tries to talk, returning to her usual, nervous self. "There was this big fire bird, and it took me to a strange place with this sleeping pokémon. Then I wished we could be wherever we most needed to be. So here we are..."

Misty looks confused. "Wait… what?!"

Brock smiles. "Well, it sounds like we've all had quite the adventure today. Hugo, anything you wanna tell us? Like how were you with…" Brock shudders uncontrollably. "...Her!" He wears a distant expression, obviously talking about Professor Ivy.

Dawn answers for him. "Well, me and Hugo were teleported to the base of Team Oblivion, the gang lead by Leaf's mum… and we got captured."

"Oh yeah, I saw a weird pokémon that pretended to be Dawn. I'd never seen one before. It was from the Oven region!"

"Um, ok… anything else?" Misty questions.

"Well, Ivy did this experiment on Shinx and..."

"Yes?" Misty prompts him to continue, Hugo realises everyone is listening.

"...And it was a total waste of time! She couldn't figure out why Shinx has a distorted memory!" He lies.

"Oh, that's a shame… oh well." Misty shrugs.

"OKAY, CAN SOMEBODY TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON, PLEASE?!" Erika screams.

"Geez, calm down." Hugo frowns. "And stop swearing so much!"

"I'll swear as much as I fucking want to, you twat!"

"You're welcome, by the way." Hugo grins.

"For what, throwing me off the edge of a fucking tower?!"

"Um… you two have met?" Misty asks.

Hugo frowns. "Unfortunately."

"Is she always like this?" Asks Dawn.

"She's usually worse..." Hugo continues to frown.

"Hey! I'm right here, bitch! SHE has a name! I'm Erika, Celadon's gym leader! The greatest fucking gym leader Celadon's ever fucking seen!"

"Can you say a sentence without swearing?" Hugo chuckles.

"Fucking no chance!" Erika fumes. "Now where are you bastards going?"

The whole gang stare at each other.

"Um… Vermillion?" Hugo asks.

Dawn shakes her head. "If that crazy bitch wants to come to us, she will. Let's head for Fuschia City."

Before anyone else gets the chance to speak, a mobile phone begins to ring. 'BZZT BZZT! BZZT BZZT!'

"Hello?" Brock answers the phone. "Ah yes, yes he's here with me. Ok. Mmmhmm. Got it. That's great! We're near Lavender Town at the moment, actually. Ok. Will do! Thanks! Bye!"

"Hugo, it was your brother, Hubert. He's flying over here next week. He lands in Viridian City in seven days time."

Hugo facepalms hard. "Damn it! What an idiot! Why's he even coming here? He'll get himself killed!"

"I dunno, but I guess that means we really need to get a move on and get to the Safari Zone as soon as possible!" Brock announces.

"Let's go to Vermillion City first!" Leaf exclaims.

Everyone is surprised. They all turn and stare at Leaf.

"I'll deal with my Mum."

"L-leaf! Who knows what she'll do to you?!" Dawn is stunned. "You should see what she almost did to me!" She shudders.

"Maybe we can get her on our side? She can help us defeat that bad guy with the Snorlax." Leaf suggests.

"Dan..." Erika sounds distant.

"You guys don't wanna be dealing with that shit. You don't know what that man's capable of, he was about to sacrifice me to Rayquaza just so he could SPEAK with it!"

Now the whole gang turn to face Erika.

"Did- did you find out what his plans are?" Asks Hugo.

Erika makes the most serious expression Hugo's ever seen her make. "Fuck yeah I did. And you're not gonna like them one bit..."

 **If you're a little confused, just be aware that Hugo and Shinx's memories are distorted due to a pokémon known as 'Oblistrum' that was the main antagonist of my first story. This is the reason they both suffer from a brain tumour. Hugo's brother, Hubert, is a character from that story.**

 **Thanks so much for reading! See you in the next chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10

It's never easy being Hugo. And today is no exception. He once again finds himself in another difficult situation. He was halfway through his morning jog alongside Shinx when Shinx suddenly collapsed to the floor. Turns out the electric type is sick. There are no Pokémon Centres nearby. The team have camped out on the border of routes 11 and 12, which is a day's walk east of Digglet's Tunnell. Shinx is back in its pokéball for now, but it really needs medical attention. Brock lacks the supplies needed to treat it. Therefore, Hugo has no choice but to leave the group, he must run ahead and get to Vermillion as fast as possible.

"C'mon, can't be far to go now. Hang in there buddy." Hugo talks to himself while he struggles to maintain his run, he's been going for almost 2 hours now. "Wait, what is-"

"LAAAAAAAAAX!"

A Snorlax completely blocks the path, fast asleep. An old man scratches his head as he appears to be trying to figure out what to do. He turns and faces Hugo, who instantly recognises him. This is the old man who sent him to that island and gave him those crazy visions! Hugo could've sworn he looked older last time though, he appears to have died his grey hair brown. He does look so much younger, at a guess maybe in his late fifties, early sixties?

"So your partner is sick, but this obstacle blocks your path, eh?" The old man asks calmly.

"How'd you… never mind." Hugo frowns. He's given up wondering how this guy knows what he knows.

"I heard you can obtain a poké flute from someone in Lavender town..." The old man explains.

Hugo frowns. "Look, I'm sure you know this but my brother's in big danger, my friend's starving herself, my pokémon's sick and I'm dying! Plus I'm banned from half the places in that town! I think this is one problem too many."

The old man seems to ignore Hugo's words. "Ah. I see. Mr. Fuji truly is a genius..."

"Huh?" Hugo looks down, and to his shock, right there in his hands is a brand new poké flute! It's yellow with pictures of Pikachu's face on it. There's a note attached with sticky tape.

'Dear young Hugo. Thank you for visiting my humble abode, and I am sorry to see that you were forced to leave so hastily. I like to give a gift to all of my new friends but you vanished before I could give you yours. Therefore, I asked a very good friend of mine to deliver this to you. I'm sure you will receive this at the time it's most needed. - Fuji'

"So you're delivering this for-"

Hugo looks up, the old man is nowhere to be seen.

"Of course. Ok. Let's try this."

Hugo blows into the flute, and it makes the most horrendous noise imaginable. Snorlax opens its eyes, it looks pissed off.

Before Snorlax has the chance to move, something come flying towards it out of the sky. Four flying objects bounce off Snorlax's stomach and land on the grass beside it.

When they land, it's clear that these are in fact not objects, but living things! Two humans and two pokémon struggle to their feet, looking tired.

"No way..." Hugo recognises these four very well. A blue haired man, pink haired woman, plus a Meowth and a Wobbuffet. It's Jessie and James!

"Wow, some landing, huh? Who sez cats always land on dere feet?" Meowth groans.

"Hmm, it appears that last thunderbolt from the twerp's Pikachu has sent us quite far from our previous location." James realises.

"This place looks oddly familiar..." Jessie adds.

"Could it be..." Meowth wonders.

"WE'RE HOME!" All three wail together. "WOBBUFFET!"

"LAAAAAAAAAAX!" Snorlax is on its feet at last, looking furious that its nap was disturbed by such a horrendous sound.

"Wow! It's the tall twerp! Who would've guessed?" Meowth exclaims.

"This fool is still going? I would've thought the author would've given up on his story months ago." Jessie states with surprise.

"Woah, and there's a big scary Snorlax attacking!" James points at the normal type looking frightened.

"Fine then, Snorlax. Have it your way."

Hugo sends out Gengar, ready to battle. "Quick, use-"

"STOOOOOP!"

A young woman with red hair and a blue dress sprints towards the scene. "DON'T FIGHT! You're too close to Diglett's tunnell! If your attack are powerful enough, they could cause the whole place to cave in!"

"Darn..." Hugo frowns, then dives in the woman's direction, pushing her to the floor. A hyper beam attack narrowly misses them.

"Don't say that and then let that thing kill you..."

"Ugh, sorry, I..."

"RAICHU, THUNDERBOLT!"

"Rai-CHUUUUUUUU!"

Hugo and the red haired girl turn around. Snorlax is now lying down again, but this time it's because it has fainted, and it's now lying in a wider section of the path, enabling people to walk around it.

"Trudy, what did I tell you?! You have to be more AGGRESSIVE. Look, I haven't come close to accidentally hitting the tunnell with any attacks."

Hugo recognises the man who's talking. It's Lt. Surge! Ash once told him a story about a battle between his Pikachu and Surge's Raichu. Ash had almost evolved Pikachu in an attempt to win.

"Hey there fella, thanks for rescuing my daughter. Let me repay the favour, come and swing by my gym when you have a few minutes… maybe I can give you a battling tip or two. Now come on Trudy, let's get back to the gym, there's something we have to discuss!"

"Um… thank you, sir. See you later!" The girl springs to her feet and runs off after the Lieutenant.

Hugo returns Gengar and looks around, he sees no sign of Team Rocket. Wonder where they went? Anyway, his priority right now is Shinx.

"Well done in getting here so fast! I can assure you that Shinx isn't as bad as it looks. It shouldn't take long until it's fully better. A day, maybe two days maximum. But I hope you appreciate, we must request that you allow us to keep Shinx with us until it's completely recovered."

* * *

"That's fine. Thanks a lot Nurse Joy!" Hugo is relieved as he makes his way out of the Vermillion Pokémon Centre. He has to stay in Vermillion until Shinx is better, and his friends probably won't be here until the evening. A glance at the big clock on the front of the Pokémon Centre shows Hugo that it's not even noon yet. To kill some time while he waits for Brock and co he decides to accept the Lieutenant's offer and visit him in his gym.

As Hugo walks along the path towards the gym he encounters a small tree. He can't seem to figure out how to get past it.

"I'll have to use force. Tyranitar, come out and use HYPER BEAM!"

"RAAAAAAAAA!" Tyranitar is summoned and shoots an overwhelmingly powerful beam of light at the tree. Unbelievably, the small tree is unaffected.

Hugo is left stunned. "Well I don't see any way I could possibly get past this small tree. Guess I can't go to the-"

"Heliolisk, use cut!"

Just as Hugo is turning around to give up, someone intervenes and finally removes the tree in his way.

"Hi, thank you for helping me earlier. Come on. My Dad wants to speak with you." Trudy gestures for Hugo to follow.

"Hi, um, what's that?" Hugo asks as he joins Trudy entering the Gym.

"Ah, that's my Heliolisk. You haven't seen one before, eh?"

Inside the Gym, Lt Surge is getting his pokémon to go through a workout. There's a Raichu, Magnezone, Electrode and a weird-looking thing similar to a Pikachu. They are all performing various exercises just as rolling around and lifting heavy objects.

"Bet you've never seen a Dedenne either?" Trudy asks. Hugo shakes his head.

Surge notices the pair walking in.

"Ah, it's you. I was wondering if you'd come. I've seen you somewhere, haven't I? If I remember from watching the news, you're the one who helped out Erika?"

"Um… yeah, I guess I did."

"Excellent! Always good to meet an ally of the Gym Leaders. The name's Dennis. But most people call me Lt. Surge. A pleasure to meet you." Surge shakes Hugo's hand enthusiastically.

Hugo already likes this guy. It's nice to talk to someone who is a similar height for a change. Hugo still has a few inches on him, but this guy is pretty big at around 6'5. "It's Hugo. A pleasure for me too."

"You see, we need the young ones like yourself to really help us out. Have you any idea how old I am?" Surge asks with a smile. Hugo shakes his head.

Surge chuckles. "Why, I'll take that as a compliment. Next month is my 50th birthday."

"My point is, most trainers stop battling at a much younger age than myself. It gets harder and harder each year to keep up my training. Blaine and Agatha, they both kept battling into their 60's. I guess for less physical trainers like them it's possible, but for people like me and you? No chance! My daughter Trudy is 23. I think it's definitely time I pass the baton along, you know what I'm saying?"

Hugo's eyes widen. He wasn't expecting all this from a guy he just met.

"Well you see, Trudy went on quite a journey, to the faraway region of Kalos. She's trained hard, and recently she beat me in battle three times in a row."

Trudy looks embarrassed standing beside her father.

"You see, with all the events that have transpired lately, at first I wanted to take action. To fight back. But these ageing bones aren't gonna allow that to happen. I've made the decision to go into hiding. I'm going to Mount Silver. I will stay there until the Kanto region knows peace again. I think this extra training is what I really need to get back into shape. Then when I return, Trudy can officially become Vermillion's new Gym leader. It'll be a day to be proud of."

Surge and Trudy share a heart-warming smile. These two obviously have a very close bond.

"So, big lad, I need you to promise me that if anyone comes after Trudy you'll do everything in your power to destroy them. I can give you somewhere to live. Stay here and protect her. Please." Surge gives Hugo a serious stare.

Hugo doesn't know what to say. He wasn't expecting all of this.

Suddenly, three sniggering figures burst in through the entrance.

"Aw, such a heart-warming tale." Jessie grins.

"Too bad your plan is going to fail." Adds James.

"Because we'll take all those pokémon, then we'll bail." Finishes Meowth.

"Eh? Who are you lot? What are you doing in my gym?" Surge demands to know.

"Prepare for trouble! You still can't name us?"

"And make it double! Around here we're famous."

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all people within our nation."

"Jessie."

"James."

"And Meowth. Now remember those names."

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light."

"Surrender now or prepare to fight."

"Meowth, that's right!"

"WOOOOBBUFFET!"

"And now is da purrfect time for dis!" Meowth announces, pulling out a remote control and pressing a few buttons.

All of a sudden, a net is shot through one of the open windows in the gym. Surge's Raichu, Trudy's Heliolisk and all the other pokémon are caught inside, with the exception of Electrode, who has incredible speed and manages to avoid. Then some sort of mechanical arm pulls the net out of the window.

"Well, see you mugs on da other side!" Meowth waves goodbye as the trio scram towards the door, attempting to escape.

"Woah, what do you think you're doing?! Get back here!" Surge looks irritated. He chases after Team Rocket. Hugo is impressed, for a 49-year-old, he sure can run fast.

All of a sudden, both Team Rocket and Surge halt in their tracks. There's a looming figure coming through the doorway.

"So it's time..." Surge mutters.

"J-J-Jess… i-is that..." James stammers.

"I-I-I think it is..." Jessie replies.

Dan calmly walks through the door. He has an intense glare. "Huh. You're here again?" He glares at Hugo.

"It would be wrong of me to leave you alive. Unfortunately it's a different story for everyone else in this room."

Hugo is confused as to why Dan doesn't want to kill him, but he has no time to wonder about that now.

"So this is our future Gym leader, eh? You've raised a fine young woman, Surge. Such a shame she has to be disposed of."

Trudy is stood close to Hugo, and he can see her visibly trembling with fear.

"Electrode, get over there and use explosion!" Surge commands. Dan is far too quick for him, though.

"GIRATINA!" Dan summons the legendary ghost type.

"Gonna have to try." Hugo sprints towards Dan. "Kabutops!"

Kabutops is ready, and knows what to do. It uses surf. Hugo allows himself to be propelled forward by the powerful wave, heading towards Dan. He's propelled a little more than he expected though, landing inches away from Dan.

POW! Before Hugo can even stand up straight after landing, he recieves a mean left hook to the face. Dan is a lot stronger than expected, Hugo is knocked onto his back, soaking wet, nose bleeding and lying in the puddles left behind by surf. His vision starts to fade, but he manages to remain conscious. He sees Giratina knocking out Electrode with shadow claw. He manages to tilt his head forwards just enough to see Dan. He has a shotgun in his hands, and it's aimed straight towards Trudy.

"Goodbye little girl." Dan pulls the trigger.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Surge sprints towards Trudy, with all his might he performs a powerful leap, diving in front of her. The bullet hits him right in the chest.

"What a nuisance. Giratina, shadow ball!" Dan commands Giratina to attack Trudy directly.

Hugo's vision goes blurry. He doesn't want Kabutops to carelessly charge at him, Kabutops would surely be killed!

"WOOOOOOOBBA!"

Unexpectedly, Wobbuffet's cry can be heard, and a loud explosion occurs.

Hugo summons all of his strength and struggles onto his knees. He looks around, Dan and Giratina are lying on the floor, badly hurt.

"Gyah, lucky escape." He throws a pokéball out in front of him, summoning Alakazam. In a flash, they've teleported away.

"Awesome job Wobbuffet!" Jessie praises.

"Looks like Giratina couldn't withstand its own attack being reflected back at it." James observes.

"DAAAAAD!" Trudy screams, rushing over to Surge, who is lying on the ground.

Hugo scrambles to his feet, and staggers over to Trudy and Surge.

"Tr-Trudy, come closer." Surge's shirt is covered in blood. He looks very weak, and is breathing heavily.

"I've taught you all I could. Now it's time to keep fighting… for the Surge family..."

"Dad! Hang in there! We'll get you to a hospital!" Trudy is in tears and doesn't seem to know what to do.

Surge manages a weak smile. "No need. My time has come. I've lived a good life..."

He's really struggling to speak now.

"I… regret… nothing..."

Surge gazes out of the window with a smile on his face. And that is his final action in this world.

Trudy bursts into uncontrollable tears, punching the floor in anger.

Hugo hangs his head low, blood still dripping from his nose.

"The world has lost a great man..." He mutters.

* * *

A couple of minutes have passed. Trudy is still crying. Hugo retrieves some wipes from his bag and cleans his face, returning Kabutops to its ball. He then goes to check on the fainted Electrode, who seems to be alright, it will just need a trip to the Pokémon Centre later.

"Hey yous guys." Meowth calls over.

"We're sorry we stole from you bums. An enemy of the boss's enemy is a friend of ours."

"Here, take your pokémon back, but don't expect this level of generosity on a regular basis." James says to Hugo and Trudy, while fiddling with the remote controller seen earlier. The net is shot back through the open window and opens, returning all of the gym's pokémon.

"Keep up da fight, chums!" Meowth calls as the group turn around to make their exit.

"Come on guys, let us blast off back to Kalos!" Jessie punches the air as they exit through the door and out of sight.

Hugo decides to be respectful, and makes his way towards the exit to give Trudy some space.

"Wait." Trudy calls without turning her head. She is still knelt at her Father's corpse and sadness is evident in her voice.

"That man… the one who killed my Father… get rid of him. Please. Get rid of him so Kanto can know peace once more, and I can become the great Gym Leader my Father wanted."

Hugo makes his way out of the building, lots of thoughts going through his mind about the events that just transpired.

He arrives back in the Pokémon Centre, intent on retrieving Shinx when a familiar voice beckons.

"What are the odds that we would meet in this place? It must be fate telling us to battle, that thought makes my heart race!"

Of course, the rhyming guy…

"Bug Catcher Johnny's back, bigger and stronger. But I think we should battle and not talk for much longer..."

Hugo doesn't bother to argue with this guy and just goes along with his request to battle. They wait for the battlefield to finish being used by two other trainers, then get started.

"Heracross, go! Defeat your foe!"

Still feeling depressed about what just happened, Hugo can't find the motivation for this battle. He half-heartedly sends out Gengar.

"Oh no! A ghost! I will not shirk! My fighting type moves will not work! But that really is okay, because megahorn is the move of the day!"

Heracross attempts to attack Gengar, who dodges easily.

Gengar looks to Hugo for an order, who just shrugs, gesturing for it to do whatever it wants. So it chooses to lick Heracross.

"Yuck! A lick! That makes me feel sick! Now use aerial ace as hard as a brick!"

To be fair, this is a smart move as aerial ace cannot be dodged. Gengar is hit.

Hugo is just folding his arms with a frown on his face.

Gengar gets bored, and decides to whack Heracross with shadow claw. The bug type cannot withstand the attack and faints.

"Darn! I thought we'd make you suffer defeat. Never mind, I like my rival to be hard to beat. Well, I better be off to the next city. I'll likely see you there, if not it'll be a pity."

And with that, Bug Catcher Johnny makes his exit.

"Wow! What enthusiasm you showed there!"

The voice is Misty's. The gang have caught up at last.

Hugo doesn't bother to respond.

"What's wrong?" Asks Brock as he and the four girls all stand (and sit) beside Hugo.

"Surge is dead."

"What? Like, recently?" Misty asks in surprise.

"Very recently." Hugo frowns.

"SURGE? No fucking way! You're taking the piss surely!" Erika exclaims in surprise.

"Dan killed him." Hugo explains.

"Oh dear..." Leaf frowns.

"You were there to see it?" Dawn asks curiously.

"Unfortunately."

"What about Trudy? His daughter? Don't tell me she was there too?" Brock asks worriedly.

"She was, but she's okay." Hugo replies in an emotionless tone.

"Oh dear, well you've certainly had an eventful morning…" Dawn frowns.

"If Surge is gone, who's next?" Misty ponders.

"Well it's not hard to fucking work out, is it? It'll be Koga!" Erika replies with attitude.

"Should we warn him?" Dawn asks.

"No point. He'll be ready..." Erika stares off into the distance. "Just as I'll be ready to help him destroy that motherfucker!" Let's go to Fuschia asap!"

"Hold on!" Leaf speaks up.

The whole gang turn towards Leaf, who's usually so quiet she can go unnoticed.

"That's right!" Dawn agrees. "We came here to find Leaf's mother. She's hiding somewhere in this city, right?"

"Well I reckon if we're going to look anywhere for someone who's hiding, we'll have to go with Diglett's Tunnel, right?" Misty guesses.

"...For once, I agree with you." Brock says reluctantly, rummaging through the storage under his wheelchair for a snack.

"So what, you're all gonna put off saving Koga's life for this bullshit?! You could do this any other day! Screw it, I'm going to Fuschia. Come on Hugo." Erika is her usual angry self, she grabs Hugo's arm and attempts to pull him along with her.

"Wait."

Hugo is still showing no emotion on his face, but he speaks louder now.

"I have to be in the Safari Zone very soon for an important reason..."

The rest of gang all look surprised that Hugo would leave them, Leaf in-particular looks heartbroken.

"...But I could never abandon Leaf."

"Ha! Then it's agreed! We all go with Leaf!" Dawn punches the air in triumph, excited that Hugo took her side. Meanwhile Leaf looks overwhelmed with relief as she sighs heavily.

"Grr!" Erika grunts.

"Well, bye shithead." Hugo teases.

"...Wait." Erika mutters through gritted teeth.

"I'll go too. Let's make it quick."

"Thank you everybody. I don't deserve all of this help." Leaf has such a sweet voice, and gives off a girly smile.

"We're all here to help each other, right? Well, most of us..." Misty glares at Brock as she says the last part.

"WHAT? I'm such a team player!" Brock defends himself.

"I swear if you carry on saying what you were saying earlier you'll be paralysed above the waist as well."

"Huh? I missed it? What did you say?" Hugo asks, kneeling so he's close to Brock.

Brock whispers something in Hugo's ear, and Hugo tries unsuccessfully not to laugh.

"Seriously, I will murder both of you!" Misty fumes.

So the whole gang: Hugo, Brock, Misty, Dawn, Leaf and Erika all make the short journey to Digglet's Tunnel. Upon entering there is a man dressed in black standing in the corner. The cave's entrance is filled with artificial lights and the first few hundred yards have clearly been dug out to make it bigger.

"S-sorry, you lot, but the tunnel's c-closed d-due to maintenance work." The man sounds incredibly nervous, as if he's trying to hide something.

"FUCK YOU!" Erika delivers a right hook to his face, knocking the man out cold on the ground.

"Erika! We could've just talked to him!" Hugo exclaims.

"What? Swearing's caring." Erika replies, with a deadly serious expression.

"Not sure that's how the expression goes..." Dawn mutters to herself.

"So… we're looking for some sort of secret entrance?" Brock asks.

"Seems like it. Guess we could climb up some of the paths? There's loads of them and one of them is bound to lead to their base." Misty decides.

"Um… you think there's wheelchair access?" Brock asks, filled with doubt.

"Brock, sweetie, I'm not trying to get rid of you or anything..." Dawn begins.

"I am!" Misty exclaims. "I'll say what we're all thinking. You'll have to wait outside, wheels!"

"Gah! If only I could get up and walk! Well good luck to you all. Especially you Leaf!" Brock says as he reluctantly turns around and begins to make his exit.

Speaking of Leaf, Hugo can't help but notice how heavily she seems to be breathing.

"Leaf, you okay? The air's not too dusty?" He quizzes her.

"No. I'm fine." Leaf lies, faking a smile. Hugo knows she's not, but as this is important to her, he doesn't want to suggest to her to go with Brock.

"Stay close to me." He tells her.

The gang decide to split in half. Hugo, Leaf and Erika search in one direction while Misty and Dawn search another.

"This is pointless!" Erika exclaims. "I bet there's not even anything here!"

"Well we have to hope there is… for Leaf's sake." Hugo casts a glance in Leaf's direction, frowning at how ill she looks.

After a good twenty minutes of looking around for anything that resembles a secret base entrance, Misty spots something.

"Hey Dawn, come over here, what do ya reckon this i-WAAAH!"

"Misty! Don't worry I- WAAAAAAH!"

The girl's screams are heard from across the tunnel.

"What the fuck?" Erika glances at Hugo.

"Run." Hugo tells her.

Hugo and Erika begin to bolt across the rocky path, having to climb and jump across rocks as they go. After making some good distance Hugo realises…

"Leaf!" She's fallen so far behind they can't even see her any more. Hugo instantly turns around and sprints back in the other direction. Letting out a deep sigh, Erika reluctantly follows him.

Getting around the corner, Hugo spots Leaf again, and as he feared she's not alone.

"Good afternoon Hugo, we meet again." Leaf's mother, Sarah, is standing right there. There are four members of Team Oblivion, dressed in Black, surrounding Leaf, effectively taking her hostage. Leaf looks even more pale than usual, and hardly possesses the strength to react to the situation.

"Aw, fuckity fuck!" Erika exclaims as she catches up to Hugo.

"What do you want?" Hugo asks through gritted teeth.

"Funny. I was just going to ask you the same question." Sarah replies while inspecting her painted nails.

"Your daughter isn't well. We need you to help her." Hugo tells her with a stone cold expression.

"Woah, never seen you so pissed off!" Erika glares at Hugo's face.

"Help her? And why would I do that after she betrayed me?"

All of a sudden, Leaf looks more lively again. Despite her condition, her face begins to glow slightly red, for the first time ever she looks angry.

"MUM!" Leaf yells, louder than she expected to be able to. "YOU LEFT ME TO ROT! I HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO RESORT TO STEALING!"

"Pfft. Hardly. You could've just gone down to the village to live." Sarah lies.

"You know I couldn't! The whole village wanted me dead! Every one of them! Except one! The generosity of one… incredible, selfless boy saved my life! But my greed almost ended his..." Leaf is now an emotional wreck, a tear starts to travel along her cheek.

"WHAT?!" Sarah exclaims.

"WHAT?!" Hugo exclaims.

"Hugo..." Leaf glares at him. "I took too much from you. You offered me more than you could afford to give. The big, muscular, handsome young man was turned into a weak little boy and all because of me… Mum was right to leave a horrible person like me to die..." Leaf's breathing is very heavy now, and she looks about as upset as someone can possibly look.

"Leaf..." Hugo has so many things to say to her now, but he's not gonna get the chance.

"Well Mummy's glad to have you back, girl! But I need to teach you a valuable lesson about your attitude. Come on!"

A Koffing emerges from the shadows, using smokescreen. Hugo and Erika are taken by surprise and all they can do is cough and splutter. When the smoke clears, everyone is gone except the two of them.

Hugo and Erika are so shocked that they simply stare at each other for almost fifteen seconds before Erika finally breaks the silence.

"What the fuck? Who are that lot?"

"Team Oblivion. Haven't got a clue what they do." Hugo explains.

"Well… your friends are dead. Too bad. Let's grab wheels and head straight to Fuschia." Erika laughs at her own joke.

"You know what, you're an arsehole!" Hugo scoffs.

"Oh, it took you until now to realise, really? Fucking genius!" Erika folds her arms and turns away.

"You know what, I can do this alone. Go home." Hugo begins to continue down the tunnel.

"Oy! You totally need me! You're fucked without me!" Erika follows him, refusing to be left behind.

"Oh yeah? And how do you help in any way besides insulting me every ten seconds?" Hugo quickens his pace.

"You need it to stop your massive ego inflating so much it takes up the whole room!" Erika quickens her pace to match Hugo's quickened pace.

"Ego?! You're kidding? I'm practically Mr Humble!" Hugo bursts into a run,

"Oh yeah, that's exactly what a super humble guy would say!" Erika runs beside him.

The pair continue to argue like a married couple until they reach the end of the tunnel. There's a bright light coming from a hole in the wall. Hugo and Erika peer down in to see a slide that looks like it leads deep within.

"Think we found it." Hugo says.

"Well no shit, Mr detective!" Erika pushes Hugo in, so he ends up sliding head first. Much to her annoyance though, he remains in control and spins around to go feet first. She quickly follows him.

At the bottom of the slide they are met with the expected warm welcome. They are in a massive open warehouse and five men are stood a good distance away pointing guns at them. Hugo and Erika can only put up their arms in surrender. "PUT YOUR HANDS UP WHERE WE CAN SEE 'EM! IF YOU MOVE WE OPEN FIRE!"

All five men are gathered quite closely together.

"Good job we're fucking smart." Erika whispers and winks at Hugo.

"DIG!" Erika yells. "Aerial ace!" Hugo commands.

Erika had informed Hugo beforehand that she'd brought a Grovyle that knows dig. Hugo had decided to also teach his Kabutops dig so they could perform a double stealth attack. Grovyle attacks from underneath, hitting them directly with its dig attack while Kabutops does the opposite, diving out of the tunnell into an immediate aerial ace from above.

Five seconds later the guards are taken care of. Erika and Hugo share a quick high five and return their pokémon, then begin to make way through the warehouse. It's relatively empty despite its massive size. There's two planes in the distance on the left side with the word 'OBLIVION' painted on in black. They're quite small, probably used as private jets for their team. There's at least thirty different doors across the walls of the warehouse, who knows what's behind each one? All of a sudden, another team member pokes his head out of one door. "In here guys." He gestures to follow. The pair, always on the alert, follow the man through the door.

Behind the door, to their surprise, is an office. Sarah's office. She's sitting at her desk resting her elbows on it. Behind her, around ten Team Oblivion members are gathered, all standing with their hands behind their back, trying to look professional. At the side, Leaf, Misty and Dawn are all sat in a chair tied up, their mouths covered with tape.

"So..." Sarah begins. "I bet you're wondering what Team Oblivion's all about."

"Not really..." Erika replies, uninterested.

"Well, you see, the world needs us. Much more than you know. As you may be aware, there are pokémon out there far more powerful than any pokémon you can find in Kanto. Even the mighty Mewtwo is outmatched."

Hugo thinks back to that time he got his arse kicked by Mewtwo and doubts her words.

"I'm referring to the pokémon GODS! We all know about Arceus and how powerful it is. But what if there are others? Pokémon so powerful, that anything they want to happen, happens."

"Sounds like some bullshit religion..." Erika sighs, unimpressed.

"We have evidence that such pokémon exist. However, it is not as it seems… these are pokémon many of us already knew about. It's just that their powers are far greater than any of us had previously imagined. You're probably unfamiliar with pokémon fusion, however it is something that is very real and possible. Now, we've experimented with this many times over the years. Behold!"

On cue, one of the grunts sends out three pokémon. The first is a Rattatta with the beak, wings and tail of a Pidgey. The second is the reverse, a Pidgey with four legs and a nose in place of its beak. The third one is horrifying – obviously a Koffing merged with a Grimer, but… yikes! That thing will give Hugo nightmares for weeks! Luckily, it's only out for a few seconds then the grunt returns the pokémon to their balls.

"Now think about this. Dialga, the pokémon that controls time itself. Palkia. The pokémon that controls space itself… see where I'm going with this? If we were to fuse Palkia and Dialga together we'd have a pokémon in control of time AND space! It would have more power than Arceus itself! With its power we could literally reshape the world, make ourselves young forever, hell, if I wanted to, with that power, I could wipe out half of humanity simply my snapping my finger. Ha! Now THAT sounds like a great idea for a movie!"

"And this is where YOU come in." Sarah points straight at Hugo. "Whatever Giovanni is paying you, I'll offer triple. I want YOU to be the one who captures them for me. We have everything in place to do it, we just need someone quick and strong with pokémon to match."

Hugo holds back his laughter. "Triple zero is still zero..."

"And what would you do with ME?!" Erika demands to know.

"Some irrelevant ex-gym leader? Not much I can do for you I'm afraid love..." Sarah frowns with fake sympathy.

"Oh, and one more thing…" Sarah smiles. "If you don't agree, these to are dead." On cue, several of the grunts stood behind her point guns straight at the helpless Misty and Dawn.

"Ha, I must admit I'm impressed. You're the first one who's ever managed to shut Misty up..." Hugo smirks.

"If you're not going to take this seriously then..." Sarah begins.

"Seriously? There's nothing serious here! In fact, it's quite funny… funny how oblivious you lot are. NOW!" Hugo claps his hands and the wall behind him and Erika is smashed down, a Rhyperior emerges, clearly responsible. Five officer Jenny's as well as Looker the detective are present, all armed with guns.

"POLICE! DROP YOUR WEAPONS! HANDS UP WHERE WE CAN SEE 'EM!" One of the Jenny's yells.

Despite being armed themselves, the Team Oblivion Grunts all panic and oblige.

"P-police?" Sarah stammers, also throwing her arms in the air. "We've committed no crime!"

"Oh please! Theft. Kidnapping. Plotting acts of terrorism..."

"Well then..." Another smokescreen is spewed into the room, but this time Hugo was expecting it. "Oh no you don't!" He cries. Before anyone else can react, Hugo sprints into the thickest part of the smoke. Resisting the urge to burst into a coughing fit, he can barely make out what Sarah is doing. She's pulling her gun out of her pocket. Fearing what she's about to do, Hugo makes a dash towards Leaf… until he realises whatever she's pulling out isn't a gun… it's a remote? Sarah presses a button on her remote and a trap door opens under Leaf's feet where she's tied up against the wall. Hugo makes a dive for her and manages to catch her frail body in his arms, but tumbles down the trap door in the process. It's another slide like the one he and Erika went down earlier. He slides on his back, Leaf still in his arms. Behind him, Sarah leaps onto the slide while the door above slams shut. Surprisingly, none of the grunts follow. They end up in a basement area. It's cold and dark, until Sarah moves to a light switch on the wall. Once the room is lit up, Hugo can see that this is actually a bedroom with a double bed, pink walls and lots of decorations all around. Hugo places Leaf on her feet and unties her – he uncovers her mouth then frees her legs followed by her feet. Sarah simply stands with her arms folded and watches.

"You weren't supposed to follow us here..." Sarah glares at Hugo. "Nobody was."

Leaf looks weak and tired, she takes a moment to register what's happening. "H-Hugo, thank you."

Sarah sits on the bed and, surprisingly, a soft smile forms on her face. "Hmm… perhaps I was wrong."

"You have some explaining to do..." Leaf tells her mother, standing close to Hugo.

"I do… well first, let me say, I have missed you… so much… more than you could possibly realise."

Leaf puts her hands on her hips. "Yeah right..."

Sarah's smile spreads across her whole face. "Listen, when I left you, do you know why?"

"Because you couldn't give a SHIT!" Leaf clenches her fists and screams at the top of her lunges. Hugo gasps, he's not used to hearing that language from Leaf. With her glare cast straight at Sarah, she grabs Hugo's hand and squeezes it with surprising strength. She doesn't even seem to realise she's doing it, but Hugo decides it's best not to say anything for now.

"I assure you, it's a very long story… the man you knew as your father… he was not your father. He thought he was, but he certainly was not."

Leaf gasps. "Dad..."

"Your father is alive." Sarah explains. "At least, I believe he is. I haven't seen him in years, so I can't be certain of this, but a man like your father, he's not really the dying type."

Leaf squeezes Hugo's hand. "So...who..."

Sarah frowns. "Look, There's a reason for everything I did, ok? I didn't do it the right way, but I did what I believed was best. Me and your father were together for only a short period of time, but during that time we did have three children..."

"Wait, three?!" Leaf gasps.

Suddenly, Hugo feels an overwhelming headache coming on. He releases himself from Leaf's grip to clutch his head in pain.

"Before you, I gave birth to two…" Sarah forms a tear in her eye. "...Beautiful boys. Twins, in fact. I was over the moon. It was the happiest day of my life the day they were born. But unfortunately, due to the nature of your father's… lifestyle… it was simply too dangerous to keep them around. They would certainly have been killed by..." Sarah gulps. "Anyway, in the end, it broke my heart but I felt I had no choice but to take my boys to a quiet alley and leave them there, hoping that some kind-hearted village person would take them in and raise them as their own. Luckily for me, it seems, at least one of them, has turned into a wonderful young man." Sarah glances at Hugo. "Wouldn't you agree, son?"

"GYAAAAAAAAH!" Hugo is in agony. Images of… someone… from when he was younger flash in front of him for very very brief periods of time.

"H-he lost his memory. Mentioning the past can hurt him." Leaf explains, her own eyes tearing up.

"Really?!" Sarah exclaims. "That would explain a lot. I thought for sure he'd find me familiar at least..."

The pain eventually begins to die down for Hugo. Why do those headaches keep happening? Is the tumour growing?

"Your father was an incredibly abusive man, when I decided I couldn't cope with being with him any more, he sexually abused me, then took me as his prisoner. In the end, as the result of a complicated gang war, I was rescued by a heroic woman. She informed me that she was the leader of Team Oblivion and that she would look after me. Soon after I fell in love with another man, and then found out I was pregnant. I know it was the rape that impregnated me, but I lied to him and told him it was his."

Leaf is stunned, while Hugo is scratching his aching head over whether to believe her.

"Our daughter was born, then shortly afterwards the leader of Team Oblivion passed away from a sudden illness. By this time we were great friends and she's named ME as her successor. I was so shocked, as I hadn't even been working for her for long. Team Oblivion were all about pokémon fusion. Their dream was to develop the technology to fuse any pokémon – something I eventually made a reality. Despite their goals not originally being mine, I owed my life to that woman so I put my heart and soul into leading the team, without a doubt though, I became a much angrier person. One day my partner suddenly confronted me, in a fit of anger I fired a warning shot near him with my gun. He was so pissed off that he then stormed out – he never had anything to do with me or my daughter after that."

"So you didn't murder him?!" Leaf exclaims.

"Murder? I've never so much as bruised anyone..."

Hugo folds his arms. "So… 'Mum'… why put me through all that crap the other day?"

Sarah sighs deeply. "Hugo… to be honest with you, when I left Leaf there was one reason for it. It was because I knew her brothers could take better care of her than I ever could. I simply had to HOPE that you'd find each other, which you did… but then… when I learned that you'd left her, I was furious! Ashamed, even. But the act I saw from you just now, diving through the smoke to come and save your sister, I see now that you do care for her deeply..."

Leaf frowns. "He's my… my brother! But I… we… almost...I felt…GYAH!"

Hugo puts his hand on Leaf's shoulder, reassuring her. "It's okay. You didn't know."

All of this is a lot for Hugo to take in. Perhaps the reason Sarah has acted so horrible is because of the abuse she's suffered through throughout her life. Hugo feels as though he understands everything now. He probably shouldn't even believe her words, but for some reason, he feels that he should.

"Look, everything we've done has been the team's decision, not mine. There's a board of members that decided everything, from the kidnappings, to the threats...I secretly planned THIS. This room has been prepared for the return of my sweet daughter for years. Away from work, I don't have to put on that tough woman act, I can be the mother I always wanted to be. And now I have TWO of my children here! Although, with everyone else behind bars now, we'll probably have to move away."

Hugo's agonising headache comes back, but this time the images appear just long enough for Hugo to register. The image confirms everything for Hugo. He can finally remember something. He remembers Mum...

"Oh dear, does it hurt again my boy?" Sarah stands up and approaches Hugo.

The pain dies down, and Hugo feels strangely happy. "Mother..." He pulls Leaf and Sarah in for a hug, which they both happily return. The reunited family stay like that for a good ten seconds or so.

"Oh children, I will help you both. I know I had to act tough in front of my team, but I've felt deeply concerned about you, Leaf. We need to get you eating more, and fast."

"Yes mother, I'll do my best." Leaf nods.

"And Hugo..." Sarah frowns. "We need to get you treated ASAP. I'll have you on the next flight to Kalos as soon as possible. I'll give you plenty of money for the trip."

Hugo releases himself from the group hug. "I can't. I really can't. There's stuff I urgently need to do in Kanto."

"Well surely you can put it off for a few days..." Sarah frowns.

Leaf is shocked by what she's hearing. Her breathing grows heavy as she starts to panic. "H-Hugo… what's going on? Nothing's wrong with you?! TELL ME NOTHING'S WRONG!" She physically shakes her new brother, getting really worked up about the situation.

"I have a brain tumour Leaf." Hugo confesses.

"Hugo, Get it treated. GET IT TREATED!" Leaf is crying again, and she shakes Hugo violently, closing her eyes and facing the ground.

"I will… but first, I must catch Mewtwo! If I don't do as Giovanni asks, Hubert's gonna die!"

"Hubert… you mean your brother?"

"Yeah, of course, who else?"

"You know, your names aren't actually Hugo and Hubert. They're the names the woman who fostered you gave you."

"Really? So what ARE our names?"

"You actual names are Frederickery and BillyBob."

"Um… think I'll stick with Hugo, thanks."

All of a sudden, Hugo and Sarah hear a THUD on the floor. The turn around to see that Leaf has collapsed! She looks very weak and ill.

"Oh no! My poor little girl! This is awful!" Sarah scream.

"Leaf..." Hugo frowns.

"Hugo… you have to go! You have to take Leaf to the Hospital! We can't help her here!"

"But what about you?" Hugo asks.

"Huh. Funny. You certainly haven't been concerned about me before now."

"True..."

"I'll be fine. I'll avoid the police. I always do. But Leaf, she won't be fine! Not unless you save her now go! Go go go!"

Hugo picks up Leaf's unconscious body with ease since she's so light.

"Take your first right, into the corridoor, then your second left. There'll be an elevator which will take you to an alleyway in the middle of Vermillion. It's well disguised."

"Thanks. Well, I guess this is goodbye… Mum." Hugo manages a faint smile, despite the bleak situation.

Sarah smiles back. "I hope it doesn't take another twenty-odd years to hear you call me that name."

Hugo begins to quickly make his way along the almost pitch-black corridoor, squinting to try and make out where the bends are.

"Oh, Hugo! One more thing!" Sarah calls out, poking her head out from the bedroom.

Hugo turns around to look a her.

"Happy Twenty-Second birthday!"

Hugo gives Sarah one last smile, then turns back around and focuses on the task at hand. Before long he finds his way to the elevator. Or rather, he was expecting an elevator. All he found was a wooden platform with no safety attatched to some ropes. There's a large hole above them that appears to rise to the surface. He places Leaf lying on the platform and hops on himself. There's a handle beside the platform, he starts turning it in a clockwise direction and the platform starts to rise. After about two minutes of turning the handle round and round as fast as he can, they get all the way to just below ground level. The platform raises through a hole in the floor in a small, empty room. Hugo stops turning the handle, and the platform very slowly starts to lower itself. He manages to pick up Leaf's body and step off before it drops below the height of the room's floor. He notices a door on one of the walls, upon using his elbow to open it he finds himself immediately in an alleyway in Vermillion City. The door locks itself behind him so there's no going back.

Hugo glances at Leaf, still unconscious in his arms.

"Come on sis, let's get you to a Hospital." He whispers.


End file.
